Piloting Away - State-Signaling and Confidence-building in China's Renewable Energy Sector

Abstract

Past studies agree that the efficiency and effectiveness of policy experimentation is highly context dependent. This study examines how policy pilots are used as tools for implementing China's energy transition and how this has produced mixed results. While pilots have effectively mobilized actors to rapidly expand renewable power generation, efforts to integrate renewable energy into power grids have been unsuccessful. The article shows that the central government uses policy pilots as an end in itself rather than as a means for future scale-up. Instead of using them as tools to bring about systemic change, the central government applies pilots as instruments of state signaling and coalition building. This promotes local protectionism and hinders coordinated efforts to achieve the envisioned sustainable energy transition.