CHINA said it would accelerate its use of renewable energy and cleaner-burning fuels including natural gas over the next five years to cut pollution and reduce reliance on coal, which generates about 80 percent of the nation s electricity.
China aims to double gas share of energy consumption to 8 percent by 2015 while boosting the combined proportion of wind, solar, hydro and nuclear to 11 percent from 8 percent, according to National Energy Administration data. The country plans to start building 40 gigawatts of atomic reactors by 2015, more than three times of last year s capacity, documents released at the National People s Congress last week show. It will also begin construction of 120 gigawatts of hydropower by then.
Hydro, wind, nuclear and gas will continue to grow at double-digit rates relative to fossil fuels, which will decline as a percentage of the energy mix, said Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
China won t blindly pursue economic growth that s unsustainable, Premier Wen Jiabao said last month. He said the world s largest coal user would slash carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as 17 percent per unit of gross domestic product from 2011 to 2015, according to Xinhua News Agency. Russia, Turkmenistan and Australia are offering to supply more gas.
Turkmenistan plans to boost pipeline shipments to China by 50 percent, even as a supply deal with Russia is delayed over pricing issues, according to OAO Gazprom, the world s largest gas producer. Australia was China s biggest source of liquefied natural gas last year, with Chinese importers paying an average US$191 a ton for Australian term-contracts compared with an average US$323 for all imports, customs data show. (SD-Agencies)
