(Re)Centralization and Local Renewable Governance in China: The Case of Zhejiang Province

The chapter examines the centralization of green-energy governance and associated policy networks in Zhejiang Province—an economic hub on China’s east coast. It presents exclusive field research data from the province to examine the network infrastructure and uses social network analysis to assess the extent to which China retains central oversight and steering capacity within the network. The chapter demonstrates that there is a de facto division of labor between those actors in the network that possess some decision-making power and those that are more useful as communicators and advocates of policy ideas in the locality. The chapter concludes that this kind of tightly restricted network template has helped strengthen China’s steering capacity in the sector in the process of catch-up with Western leaders in the non-hydro renewables industry.