China's wind, solar power will not need state subsidies

A top Chinese energy official said yesterday that future development of renewables such as wind and solar power will not need state subsidies thanks to sharply falling cost brought by technological advances.

“There is generally no need for the government to subsidise wind, solar and other new energies. They will primarily be driven by the market,” said Zhang Jianhua, director of China’s National Energy Administration told reporters. “The biggest issue is how to best utilize these new energies.”

Zhang also said that recent power shortages in some Chinese regions are singular cases and the nation’s energy supplies, including power, is generally secure.

Power consumptions surged in recent weeks in Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in central and eastern China, as cold snaps lifted heating demand and accelerating industrial activities boosted power load.

In a concurrent release of its energy white paper yesterday, China pledged to fully lift access restrictions on foreign investment in coal, oil, gas, power generation, excluding nuclear, as well as the new energy businesses.

The white paper, titled “Energy in China’s New Era,” was released by the State Council Information Office to provide a full picture of the country’s achievements in energy development and major policies and measures for energy reform.

In the direction of green development, the country has been vigorously promoting the clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy, prioritizing the development of renewable energy, developing nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner, and raising the proportion of non-fossil energy in the energy supply structure.

Preliminary calculations show that in 2019, the consumption of clean energy (natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power) accounted for 23.4 percent of total energy consumption, an increase of 8.9 percentage points over 2012, and non-fossil energy accounted for 15.3 percent of total energy consumption, up 5.6 percentage points against 2012.

“With this China has reached the target of raising the share of non-fossil energy to 15 percent in total energy consumption by 2020,” the white paper says.