China is boosting renewable energy

Over the past two years, China has already leapfrogged competitors from Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States to become the world's largest maker of wind turbines and solar panels.

The government has already announced plans to increase the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption to 11.4 percent by 2015 from 8.3 percent in 2010.

The National Energy Administration, the top energy agency, said that power generated by clean-energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass and nuclear will account for energy equivalent to that produced by 480 million tons of standard coal between 2011 and 2015. That in itself would be a major achievement, considering that power generated by clean-energy sources was 300 million tons in the previous five years.

Coal contributes more than 70 percent of China's energy needs while oil and natural gas account for 21.6 percent. But despite the statistics, the deep fuel reserves are nothing when equated with China's population of 1.34 billion, the robust economy and growing energy needs. The country accounted for 20.3 percent of global energy consumption in 2010, and that figure is likely to rise dramatically.

experts say that not only does the sector hold the promise of more jobs, it will also create a cleaner, healthier future.

The China Wind Energy Development Roadmap 2050, released by the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission in October 2011, shows that China's annual new-installed wind capacity will remain steady at 15 gigawatts per year until 2020, 20 gW per year from 2020 to 2030, and 30 gW per year for the decade to 2050.

"Experience shows that government targets are often exceeded in China. Wind-power prices are coming down and are cheaper than solar power. We believe that the newly installed wind-power capacity in China will reach at least 20 gW per year," said Watson Liu, vice-president for Greater China at Roland Berger.

Foreign producers of wind turbines have seen their market share in China drop dramatically to 30 percent from 70 percent over the past five years after an increasing number of Chinese companies entered the sector, according to a study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, one of the largest consultancies in Europe.

Hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable energy. China has been busy harnessing its power, with 17 percent of its 2010 electricity requirement coming from hydropower sources.

In 2010, China set the goal of reaching 300 gW of installed hydropower capacity by 2015, which will be raised to 330 gW by 2020

Sources:
chinadaily.com