China May Boost Solar-Power Output Capacity 13-Fold by 2011
By Bloomberg News
Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- China may boost its solar-power output capacity by more than 13-fold by 2011 as the world’s second-largest energy consumer increases the use of renewable energy, an industry official said.
The country may raise its solar-power capacity to 2,000 megawatts by 2011 and 20,000 megawatts by 2020, from 150 megawatts at the end of last year, Cui Rongqiang, head of the Shanghai Solar Energy Society, said by telephone today.
China is drafting a plan to more than double the nation’s output of alternative energy in 2020 from targets set in 2007, Shi Dinghuan, chief director of China Renewable Energy Society, said in May. The government said in April it’s preparing a stimulus-spending package to spur the development of the renewable-energy industry.
“The stimulus plan will largely boost the development of solar-power projects as it will provide state subsidies for those projects,” Cui said. “And there shouldn’t be any big technical problems feeding solar power into grids.”
The solar-power targets may still change before the stimulus plan is announced, said Cui, whose organization includes Shanghai-based makers of solar power-modules.
China plans to invest 2 trillion yuan ($293 billion) in its alternative-energy industry from 2006 through 2020 as the world’s second-biggest energy consumer looks to replace use of coal and oil with cleaner-burning fuels. The nation could pass Europe, Japan and the U.S. to become the world’s largest renewable-energy consumer by 2010, according to Washington-based researcher WorldWatch Institute.
The Chinese government in 2007 targeted 1,800 megawatts of solar-power capacity, 300,000 megawatts of hydropower, 30,000 megawatts of wind power and 30,000 megawatts of biomass power by 2020. China wants renewable energy to account for 15 percent of the country’s overall use.
Last Updated: August 31, 2009 06:32 EDT
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