China Announces Plans for New-Energy Demonstration City

China’s central government has approved proposals to establish a national-level new-energy demonstration city in Turpan in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and the first low-carbon demonstration township in the Jujiapu Financial District of Tianjin, according to Zhang Baoguo, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA). Zhang said that the central government has approved the national-level new-energy demonstration city project, which will promote the harmonious development between new-energy utilization and urban development through solar energy utilization.

During the recently-concluded ninth APEC energy ministers’ meeting in Fukui, Japan, the low-carbon demonstration township project, co-sponsored by China and Japan, was approved and the Yujiapu Financial District of Tianjin was selected as the first township site. Information shows that the amount of sunshine in Turpan is about 3,200 hours a year, which is 1,000 hours more than other areas at the same latitude. With temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celsius for more than 100 days a year, Turpan is rich in solar, wind and other renewable energy.

“Many Chinese cities, from south to north and from coastal regions to inland regions, have put forward new energy and low-carbon urban development plans or proposals, to which the NEA will actively offer support,” said Zhang. According to Zhang, China’s installed hydropower capacity reached 197 million kilowatts in 2009, ranking first in the world, and installed wind power capacity stood at 22 million kilowatts after doubling for four straight years, taking the world’s third position.

 
Wind power capacity is expected to top 30 million kilowatts in 2010, moving China to second place in the world. China is now installing 23 nuclear power units with a combined power generating capacity of 25.4 million kilowatts, accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s total nuclear power units under installation, and ranking first in the world in terms of power capacity of nuclear power units under installation.

China’s solar energy collectors cover an area of 145 million square meters and annual methane output stands at around 13 billion cubic meters, both taking leading positions in the world.

“China’s cumulative non-fossil energy utilization scale is equivalent to 240 million tons of standard coal or almost 8 percent of the total primary-energy consumption. China has promised the international community that non-fossil energy will account for about 15 percent of the country’s total energy in 2020,” Zhang said. “The National People’s Congress has approved and issued the renewable energy law and the NEA has drafted a new-energy development plan. We will intensify our efforts to develop low-carbon energy and take more actions to firmly fulfill the promise.”

Source: Peoples Daily Online

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Posted by admin on Jul 5 2010. Filed under China, Green Building, Headline. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry