ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Renewable Energy Development Project (REDP), a scheme designed to expedite the growth of SHS units in China's off-grid rural areas. China invested $34.6 billion in renewable energy in 2009, more than any other country in the world. In such areas, renewable energy technologies like wind turbines and SHSs have been identified as least-cost options and therefore the technologies of choice for many rural applications. The State Economic and Trade Commission established a Project Management Office (PMO) to coordinate the REDP, which as a result of government restructuring, was transferred to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2003. The TI component was modeled on initiatives in Western countries and designed to accelerate technology innovation, with the aim of reducing costs of equipment available in China, while providing high-quality products and performance. The REDP had to complete with other programs and, perhaps the victim of its own success, market saturation.
