An Appraisal on China’s Feed-In Tariff Policies for PV and Wind Power: Implementation Effects and Optimization
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
General Comment
The subject is under intense debate, and the research effort is welcome. Contrary to appearances these are very complicated models. It’s disadvantage.
„After applying the static price simulation...”
My Comment
It’s disadvantage, too.
„Compared to the development of thermal power projects, the development of PV and wind power projects has a higher level of economic competitiveness and cost-saving potential under the support of the guiding price policy and the parity policy.”
My Comment
I Agree. It's just a matter of additional surcharges.
In my opinion, the paper has several disadvantages. Figures, tables, and references are in the wrong order. The cited literature is not included in the paper.
My Conclusion
The Authors ought to revise the paper, since there are several mistakes there. I suggest eliminating this disadvantage. The paper must be supplemented.
Author Response
Thank you for your review, and the following comments and suggestions you raised have played a vital role in optimizing the model design and the organization of this paper. According to each of your suggestions, we have made the following modifications and replies point by point.
Point 1
[Contrary to appearances these are very complicated models. It’s disadvantage.
„After applying the static price simulation...”
My Comment It’s disadvantage, too.]
Modification and reply
Thank you for your valuable comments. After discussion, we did find that the specification of the two models has the following problems in elaboration:
(1) The complementary relationship between the two models and the rationality of parallel use need to be further explained.
(2) The previous names of the two models have a problem with unclear representation of evaluation objectives.
(3) The specification of the two models can be further simplified to facilitate the reader's understanding.
According to the above problems, we make the following modification one by one:
(1)To enable the appraisal model to play a role in the process of policy design, implementation and optimization, we consider that the following two major objectives are needed to be achieved (the specification is updated in line 170-181):
- evaluate whether the implementation effect of the existing policy has been improved compared with the previous one.
- evaluate whether the current policy is suitable for continued implementation in the future and put forward ideas for optimizing policy design.
It can be seen that it is reasonable to design and apply two models separately according to the evaluation objectives.
(2)Accordingly, to let readers better understand our evaluation objectives, we change the names of appraisal models to the Evaluation Model of Implementation Effects and the Optimization Model for Policy Design, and a new specification of evaluation objectives of the appraisal models is presented in Table 4.
(3)The design and specification of the Optimization Model for Policy Design are simplified, as shown in line 315-321. Besides, for the convenience of readers, we add Tables 15 and 17 in the chapter of Results and Discussion, to match the conclusions with the evaluation objectives point by point.
Point 2
[In my opinion, the paper has several disadvantages. Figures, tables, and references are in the wrong order. The cited literature is not included in the paper.]
[Are all the cited references relevant to the research?(Must be improved)]
[Is the article adequately referenced?(Must be improved)]
Modification and reply
According to your valuable suggestions, we delete some references with weak relevance to the theme of this paper, and supplement some literature that supported the views of our research[4-8,14,30,33,34,35]. Besides, figures, tables, and references are re-ordered according to the order of appearance.
Point 3
[For empirical research, are the results clearly presented?(Can be improved)]
Modification and reply
To show manufacturing processes more clearly, we consider adding the following figures (Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 4) in this section to reflect the calibration bases and manufacturing procedures of relevant variables and parameters.
(1)Figure 1. China’s benchmark feed-in tariffs for thermal power by region in 2021.
(2)Figure 2. The proportion of generating capacity of thermal power by region in 2021.
(3)Figure 4. Simulation of the weighted average price of green certificates from August 2022 to August 2023.
If reviewers and editors consider that there are other calibration bases and manufacturing procedures that can be presented, we will supplement materials in the next round of revision.
Point 4
[Are the conclusions thoroughly supported by the results presented in the article or referenced in secondary literature?(Can be improved)]
Modification and reply
In order to improve the credibility of the conclusions and suggestions obtained by the two models, we add cited references that supported the conclusions and suggestions tabled in the paper[30-33].
Thanks again for your suggestions, and we sincerely hope to get your support and criticism.
On behalf of the authors
Sincerely yours,
Corresponding author: Yamin Huang
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Editor,
An Appraisal on Implementation Effects of China's Feed-in Tariff Policies for PV and Wind Power The paper’s results are quite interesting but need to be improved. There are some unclear figures that require some modifications in the paper. After the following corrections paper may be acceptable for publication:
1.The title needs to be improved.
2.The Abstract should be revised carefully; the authors should highlight the results illustrated by different characterization techniques.
3. this part needs to be used to update references regarding different challenges the price verification, the design of the price formation mechanism, [So far, academia usually separately discusses the problems of PV and wind power FIT policies such as the price verification, the design of the price formation mechanism, and the adjustment of subsidy sources ]
Suggested references:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110366
https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/160621,
4. for the Materials and Methods part. I recommend that authors can add figures showing the manufacturing procedure.
5. Figure 1. the conservative(black), neutral(red), and positive(blue) planning of generating capacity of PV and wind power in 2025, 2030 and 2060, please provide clear graphs.
Author Response
Thank you for your review and the recognition of the results of this paper, and the comments and suggestions you raised have played a vital role in optimizing the model design and the organization of this paper. According to each of your suggestions, we have made the following modifications and replies point by point.
Point 1
[The title needs to be improved. ]
Modification and reply
Thanks for your suggestion on the revision of the title. Since the original title cannot summarize the main objectives and critical research contents of this paper, we change the title to An Appraisal on China's Feed-in Tariff Policies for PV and Wind Power: Implementation Effects and Optimization, and the content of this new title is reflected in the abstract and main text.
Point 2
[The Abstract should be revised carefully; the authors should highlight the results illustrated by different characterization techniques. ]
Modification and reply
According to your valuable suggestion, the critical results, conclusions and suggestions of the two models are reorganized and summarized separately in Abstracts.
Note: considering that the previous names of the two models have a problem with unclear representation of evaluation objectives, we change the names of the models to the Evaluation Model of Implementation Effects and the Optimization Model for Policy Design, new specifications of the two models are presented in Table 4.
Point 3
[This part needs to be used to update references regarding different challenges the price verification, the design of the price formation mechanism, [So far, academia usually separately discusses the problems of PV and wind power FIT policies such as the price verification, the design of the price formation mechanism, and the adjustment of subsidy sources ]
Suggested references:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110366
https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/160621]
Modification and reply
Thank you for your valuable recommendation. Including the 2 papers recommended by you， we add 7 cited references into the 1.1 Research background [4-10], enriching the literature citation of related topics, such as the verification of feed-in tariffs, the design of price formation mechanism, the adjustments of subsidy sources, the advancement of power generation technologies, and the target of the adjustment of feed-in tariff, as shown in line 54-62.
Point 4
[For the Materials and Methods part. I recommend that authors can add figures showing the manufacturing procedure.]
Modification and reply
According to your recommendation, we consider adding the following figures (Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 4) in this section to reflect the calibration bases and manufacturing procedures of relevant variables and parameters.
Figure 1 China’s benchmark feed-in tariffs for thermal power by region in 2021.
Figure 2 The proportion of generating capacity of thermal power by region in 2021.
Figure 4 Simulation of the weighted average price of green certificates from August 2022 to August 2023.
If reviewers and editors consider that there are other calibration bases and manufacturing procedures that can be presented, we will supplement materials in the next round of revision.
Point 5
[Figure 1. the conservative(black), neutral(red), and positive(blue) planning of generating capacity of PV and wind power in 2025, 2030 and 2060, please provide clear graphs.]
Modification and reply
Thanks to your detailed suggestion, Figure. the conservative(black), neutral(red), and positive(blue) planning of generating capacity of PV and wind power in 2025, 2030 and 2060, has been revised and replaced with a clearer version. Besides, other figures in this paper have also been replaced with clearer versions.
Thanks again for your suggestion, and we sincerely hope to get your support and criticism.
On behalf of the authors
Sincerely yours,
Corresponding author: Yamin Huang
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Thank you very much for your response. In my opinion, the paper has several disadvantages.
1.
Figures Vs Text
Figure 5 is in the wrong order.
(1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 5, 9, 10, 11)
2.
Reference in the text
[34-37]
The cited literature is not included in the paper.
Other
Are the prices quoted including tax? If not, this information must be provided (The prices do not include VAT). All necessary information to the Reader must stand out directly.
My Conclusion
The Authors ought to revise the paper, since there are several mistakes there. I suggest eliminating this disadvantage.
The paper must be supplemented.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for your review, according to each of your suggestions, we have made the following modifications and replies point by point.
Point 1: Figures Vs Text, Figure 5 is in the wrong order. (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 5, 9, 10, 11)
Response 1: According to your comment, the order in which the figures appear in the text has been reordered.
Point 2: Reference in the text [34-37]The cited literature is not included in the paper.
Response 2: According to your comment, all 37 references are all cited in the text and listed in order.
Point 3: Are the prices quoted including tax? If not, this information must be provided (The prices do not include VAT). All necessary information to the Reader must stand out directly.
Response 3: Thank you for your valuable comments. After verification of the original data, the feed-in tariffs of thermal, PV and wind power in this paper all include VAT. However, since no regulations have been promulgated to levy value-added tax on green certificates so far, the transaction prices of green certificates in this paper do not include value-added tax.
The remarks are shown in Table 5, Figure 1, and Figure 4.
Thanks again for your suggestions, and we sincerely hope to get your support and criticism.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
