ABSTRACT
Renewable energy development in China is expanding beyond the capabilities of existing institutions to provide support for sustainable commercial development. China is currently in a transition phase in which the central and local governments are in the process of developing new policy incentives and environmental regulations impacting renewable energy technology dissemination. There is still a large gap between renewable energy resource potential and existing levels of technology dissemination in China; nevertheless, project development is increasing in scale and a broader investment base is becoming available for project financing. In this transition, renewable energy industry groups in China need services in the form of policy advocacy, business development assistance and training, facilitation of financing, and assistance in interfacing with the international renewable energy community. In 1999 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Chinese State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) initiated support for the establishment of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA). CREIA is a non profit and non-government organization that uses market-oriented approaches to interface with the domestic industry to promote renewable energy commercialization. CREIA will manage an Investment Opportunity Facility (IOF) to help connect projects with investors, and will play an advocacy role on behalf of industry with the government and other stakeholder groups. It will also provide services to members in form of market information, databases, trade missions, foreign exchanges, workshops, and training. This paper will summarize the establishment, activities to date, and future plans of the CREIA organization.
