China to triple solar energy production in 2017

The engine of the world’s most powerful economy of the 21st century, for all its efficiency, smokes like an old railway dinosaur from the 19th century. And feeds approximately the same - coal plus steam boiler and turbine. Air pollution in the eastern part of the Republic of China is a national disaster, which is aggravated by the fact that this part is the most densely populated part of the country. A very bright indicator of the density of Chinese smog can serve as a liter jar of French air sold at auction for $ 840, and to obtain a license plate for a car with an internal combustion engine you need to buy an expensive license.

For this reason, not because of the jar, but because of the permanent smog over the country, the government declared war on air pollution factors, and if we speak without emotion, created a clear program for restructuring the energy sector in favor of renewable energy. And one of the most important sources here will be given to the sun.



By the end of 2013, the total contribution of solar energy to the PRC energy industry amounted to 20 GW. The amount is large, but only in comparison, for such a huge country and a powerful economy is a drop in the bucket. Therefore, the government adopted a program to increase this value by 3 times by the end of 2017 and reach the level of 70 GW. To this we need to add 150 GW of wind energy, 11 GW of biomass and 330 GW of hydropower. This will allow to achieve the share of 13% of renewable sources in the energy budget of the country.



Despite these impressive figures, the pace of development of alternative sources in China leaves much to be desired, they do not keep up with the growth of the country’s energy needs, so that even Ukraine ranks higher in terms of the share of renewable energy per million inhabitants, according to 2013 data, when Crimea, where the country’s largest solar power plant is located, was not occupied.



Therefore, China is forced (or just cheaper) to continue building coal-fired thermal power plants. This helps more people get out of poverty, but it doesn’t reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

Source: facepla.net