China to Spend 180 Billion Dollars to Boost Renewable Energy Use & Renewable Energy Markets Show Strong Growth |

China to Spend 180 Billion Dollars to Boost Renewable Energy Use
Agence France-Presse

China said Monday it would spend about 180 billion dollars over the next 15 years to increase its use of renewable energy to 15 percent of the total generated, from the current seven percent.

Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), revealed the plan at an international conference on renewable energy in Beijing, the state news agency reported.

"Renewable energy, including solar, wind power and hydropower, will contribute to better energy security in China," said Zhang.

"It also delivers substantial economic and environmental results, alleviating poverty."

In the coming 15 years China will develop biomass energy, which stems from plant and animal matter, and hopes to replace ten million tons of petroleum with renewable energy annually, Zhang said.

China also plans to expand the heat collection area of solar heaters to 300 million cubic meters (390 million cubic yards) by 2020, replacing the use of about 40 million tons of standard coal each year.

In a speech at the conference, Chinese President Hu Jintao called on the international community to improve cooperation in research and development, transfer of technology and funding to promote the use of renewable resources, Xinhua news agency said.

"China attaches great importance to the utilization of renewable resources, making it one of the important moves to promote economic and social development," Hu said.

Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan told the conference China will make better use of its water resources, build wind power plants capable of generating a million kilowatts each and use more solar energy and methane in rural areas.

Zeng called on developed countries and international organizations to honor their commitments made in 2004 in Bonn, Germany, to offer assistance to developing countries for the use of renewable energy, including funding, technology, expertise and management.

China aims to provide electricity to many homes still living without it by developing renewable energies, especially solar energy, Zhang said.

China has spent some 600 million dollars in the past few years on installing solar batteries in 700 small towns far from the country's power grid. It planned to provide the batteries to more towns in coming years.

Beijing - Global investment in renewable energy set a new record of $30 billion in 2004, according to a report released today by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Technologies such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydro now provide 160 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity, about 4 percent of the world total, the report finds.

"Renewable energy has become big business," said Eric Martinot, lead author of Renewables 2005: Global Status Report. Martinot, who is a Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute and a Lecturer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, notes that renewable energy is attracting some of the world's largest companies, including General Electric, Siemens, Sharp, and Royal Dutch Shell. The report estimates that nearly 40 million households worldwide heat their water with solar collectors, most of them installed in the last five years. Altogether, renewable energy industries provide 1.7 million jobs, most of them skilled and well-paying.

The Global Status Report was compiled by Martinot, working with more than 100 researchers and contributors from at least 20 countries. It provides an assessment of several renewables technologies - small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels - that are now competing with conventional fuels in four distinct markets: power generation, hot water and space heating, transportation fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy supplies.

The report finds that government support for renewable energy is growing rapidly. At least 48 countries now have some type of renewable energy promotion policy, including 14 developing countries. Most targets are for shares of electricity production, typically 5-30 percent, by the 2010-2012 timeframe. Mandates for blending biofuels into vehicle fuels have been enacted in at least 20 states and provinces worldwide as well as in three key countries - Brazil, China and India.

Government leadership provides the key to market success, according to the report. The market leaders in renewable energy in 2004 were Brazil in biofuels, China in solar hot water, Germany in solar electricity, and Spain in wind power.

The fastest growing energy technology in the world is grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV), which grew in existing capacity by 60 percent per year from 2000-2004, to cover more than 400,000 rooftops in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Second is wind power capacity, which grew by 28 percent last year, led by Germany, with almost 17 gigawatts installed as of 2004.
Production of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) exceeded 33 billion liters in 2004, when ethanol displaced about 3 percent of the 1,200 billion liters of gasoline globally.
An estimated US $500 million goes to developing countries each year as development assistance for renewable energy projects, training, and market support, with the German Development Finance Group (KfW), the World Bank Group, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) providing the majority of these funds, and dozens of other donors and programs providing the rest.
Over 4.5 million "green" power consumers in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan purchased renewable electricity at the retail level or via certificates in 2004.

The Global Status Report fills a gap in the international energy reporting arena, which has tended to neglect the emerging renewable energy technologies. Regular updates will be produced in the future. The report was produced and published by the Worldwatch Institute and released today at the Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference 2005, sponsored by the Government of China. This Conference brings together government and private leaders from around the world, providing a forum for international leadership on renewable energy and connects the wide variety of stakeholders that came together at the International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn, Germany, in 2004.

The creation of REN21 was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Formally established in Copenhagen in June 2005, REN21 is now supported by a steering committee of 11 governments, 5 intergovernmental organizations, 5 non-governmental organizations, and several regional, local, and private organizations.