China Seeks More Clean Energy Integration
Green Chip Stocks
Relying on coal for roughly 80% of its power generation (using morethan the U.S., the European Union and Japan, combined), China isscrambling to integrate more clean energy into its overall energy mix.After all, China’s carbon emissions from coal surpassed U.S. emissionsback in 2007, and the country has also become the world’s largestemitter of mercury (primarily due to its burning of coal).
And don’t think for a second that this is only a China problemeither. Back in 2006, a U.S. satellite tracked a cloud of carbon,sulfur compounds and other byproducts of coal combustion from NorthernChina to the West Coast of the United States. It has been estimatedthat it takes anywhere between five to 10 days for China’s coal-firedpower plant pollution to travel to the U.S.
So it wasn’t surprising when we heard yesterday that Sun Qin, thedeputy head of the National Energy Administration(NEA), announced thatChina will issue a new plan by the end of the year to bolster cleanenergy development.
There wasn’t much beyond that announcement. But according to Shi Lishan, deputy director of renewable energy at the National Developmentand Reform Commission, the Chinese government will invest more than$14.6 billion to double its wind-power capacity by 2010. China’s windpower capacity is actually expected to triple from 2008 levels,reaching 30,000 megawatts by the end of 2010.
Incidentally, on Saturday, construction began on China’s first 10 gigawatt wind power base. The NEA has a total of six planned in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang, Hebei and Jiangsu.
China has also upped the ante on solar integration. Last month, theChinese government announced that it plans to subsidize 50 percent ofthe costs of building solar power projects and transmission tofacilitate these projects. And for projects in remote areas that arenot grid-connected, that incentive increases to 70 percent.
Jeff
Green Chip Stocks Editors & Contributors
Jeff Siegel
Jeff Siegel is the managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, an independent investment research service that focuses exclusively on renewable energy and organic and natural food markets.
Nick Hodge
One of the bright young minds in today's cleantech industry, Nick is putting his knowledge of nascent green markets to use in several ways... Nick is the co-author of a best-selling book and has interviewed dozens of times for TV and Web; his keen insight, uncanny foresight, and global contacts have led to double- and triple-digit wins for his readers, time after time.