Updates share prices, adds details about policy change in paragraphs 4-5, and analyst comment in paragraphs 6-7

By Colleen Howe

BEIJING, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Chinese renewable energy stocks fell as much as nearly 4% after the market open on Monday, following an announcement by the state planner and energy regulator on the scaling back of subsidies for renewable power producers.

China's clean energy indexes - the CSI New Energy Index, SSE STAR New Energy Index, and CNI New Energy Index - were down by 1.55%, 1.54% and 1.38%, respectively, as of 0601 GMT.

Shares of clean energy-related companies dropped. Chinese solar producer Tongwei 600438.SS traded down 2.77% after losing nearly 4% earlier in the session.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Regulator stated in a Sunday notice that new projects completed after June would transition to a system of electricity payments that would allow the government to recoup some profits.

Similar overseas contracts guarantee a minimum price for energy produced, while also allowing governments to recover excess revenue if prices exceed a set threshold.

The policy was in line with market expectations and the overall trend of falling tariffs for renewables projects, Pierre Lau, Citi's head of Asian utilities and clean energy research, said in a note.

Lau said the average solar tariffs of a small independent power producer could fall by more than 10% this year.

No unreasonable costs and conditions, such as mandatory energy storage requirements, should be imposed on clean energy, according to the notice. This signals the end of a policy that has driven the rollout of much of China's battery energy storage capacity.

Projects operating before June this year will continue to follow the previous policy, where power prices cannot exceed local coal-fired benchmark tariffs, and will still benefit from purchase guarantees for a portion of their power.

Shares of Longi Green Energy 601012.SS, the world's largest solar manufacturer, slipped 1.42%. Peers Jinko Solar 688223.SS and JA Solar 002459.SZ were down around 2% each, and shares of key wind turbine manufacturer MingYang 601615.SS fell 1.61%.

By contrast, the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC was up 0.5%.

The tweak came after China broke its own records for new solar installations in 2024 with installed capacity up 45% from the previous year.

The policy also follows the lifting of a guarantee last year that grid operators would buy nearly all the power generated by renewable producers at a fixed rate.

(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Michael Perry and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

((colleen.howe@thomsonreuters.com;))