China puts £60bn into energy

Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Thursday 5 February 2009

China will spend 580bn yuan (£59.5bn) expanding its energy sector in 2009 with plans for new solar and wind-powered generating capacity, but also nuclear and coal-fired plants.
State-owned power companies were stepping up investment to meet growing demand and boost economic growth as part of a government stimulus plan, said Zhang Guobao, director of China's National Energy Administration. He also called on ministers to ensure there were appropriate measures to raise and save energy as well as using it more efficiently.
China is heavily dependent on cheap coal to generate much of its electricity but is on a drive to cut carbon and other pollution in its smog-filled cities by going at least partly green. Statistics show it consumed 2.74bn tonnes of coal in 2008, up 4.5% on the previous year, but the rate of growth was 1.6% lower than in 2007.
China's wind market is one of the fastest growing in the world with the exception of the US. A recent study by the Global Wind Energy Council predicted it may have installed capacity of 122 gigawatts by 2020, equivalent to the capacity of five Three Gorges dams.
No further details were given by Zhang about wider plans for expanding energy generation, but the China Daily newspaper said Beijing was looking forward to eight more nuclear plants, with a total of 16 reactors being operational within three years. The country currently has 11 nuclear reactors supplying about 1% of its power, but wants to see that contribution rise to at least 5%.