Solar Feed In Tariff Website

The Chinese National Energy Administration has announced via the state run newspaper China Daily that they will be seeking to produce around 15 per cent of all the country’s energy by renewable means within the next 10 years.

China, despite being criticised for its heavily industrialised, polluting economy and images of Beijing obscured by dense smog during the 2008 Olympic Games, the government is taking proactive steps towards reducing carbon emissions with measures that would shame certain other attendees of the Copenhagen climate summit.

With the growing realisation of the fallibility on basing the huge Chinese economy on fossil fuel imports which could become untenable within the next 25 years, the Beijing government is planning to spend billions of dollars in investing in solar and wind farm sites in addition to research projects which could keep China at the cutting edge of green energy generation.

Renewable energy generation grew by 1 per cent in China in the last 12 months with the government hopeful that figures will grow from the present 9.9 per cent to 15 per cent by 2020. The Chinese government is keen to diversify its economy as well as its means of energy generation with the dual purpose of slowing the effects of climate change and making the economy more robust in the face of any potential fuel crises which could arise in the near future.

In spite of passing legislation designed to have an immediate impact on renewable energy uptake such as the feed-in tariff, a mechanism to incentivise investment in green technologies, government spokesman Zhang Guobao is realistic about the timescales involved in such projects. Speaking to China Daily, Zhang commented that,

“Power projects take a long time to be up and running, and we are basically allowing five years to complete them although it is a 10-year program, otherwise, the facilities cannot be put into use by 2020.”

Zhang added, “It appears that some local governments approved energy-guzzling projects during economic crisis so only by fully implementing our energy saving regulations can we realize economic growth with less energy consumption.”

The newly established Energy Technology Institute (ETI) has announced that the innovative Nova Project will be one of the first recipients of its research funding. The V-wing turbine design, unorthodox in that it is designed to be supported in the air by two giant vertical wings represents a dramatic step forward in green technology design. The government hopes that the V-wing along with other renewable energy sources will soon be supplying energy in to the UK national grid. Recent energy legislation and the establishment of the ETI highlight the government’s desire to meet its green target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

ETI, made up of BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell are thought to have around £1.1 billion to dedicate to similar such projects as the V-wing and will be a key driving force behind renewable investment in the near future alongside the proposed feed-in tariff. The Nova project represents a worldwide move towards greener technology. As Lord Drayson, the Science and Innovation minister stated,

“This is evidence of a real shift to green jobs and green engineering”.

Other funding will go towards researching floating offshore wind and tidal turbines around the UK and will contribute greatly to the success of the renewable technology industry in the next twenty years.