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New energy should be 'top priority'

By Wang Bo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-12 07:44

Senior officials yesterday called on the government to treat the development of new energy as its top priority this year if it was serious about easing its energy shortage and improving the environment.

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Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC): "China should never falter in its effort to develop new energy, even though the current financial crisis temporarily cushioned the conflicts between energy supply and demand."

He added: "We should keep a close watch on the development of cutting-edge technologies the world over, and invest more to improve research and development capabilities."

Zhang warned if the country did not give the development of new energy its due importance, "we will find ourselves lagging behind the world within a decade".

For many countries now, developing new sources of energy is an important move to cope with the global financial turmoil.

In US President Barack Obama's massive stimulus plan, launched last month, he hailed the construction of new energy industries as the key to creating more jobs and pulling the country's economy out of recession.

At present, coal accounts for two-thirds of China's energy consumption, while new energy accounts for no more than 5 percent of the total, indicating a huge potential to help shift the country's reliance on coal.

Last year, China imported 38.85 million tons of refined oil, an increase of 5.06 million tons from a year earlier, and its reliance on export for oil consumption reached 49.8 percent, 1.4 percentage points higher than what it was in 2007.

In the face of the escalating demand for energy, Zhang said it was "time to restructure the nation's energy mix" by exploring renewable energies and boosting clean energy consumption.

In Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report, delivered during the ongoing National People's Congress (NPC) session, he pledged that the country would vigorously develop a circular economy, clean energy and promote the development of nuclear, wind and solar power this year.

Many agreed that nuclear power should be prioritized in China's energy development agenda in the next 10-20 years.

"Nuclear power is the most effective energy source to control greenhouse gas emissions, as its power generation process does not emit carbon dioxide directly," said Chen Yingxu, deputy director of the College of Environmental and Resource Sciences at Zhejiang University and a CPPCC National Committee member.

"The rapid development in nuclear power technology in recent years makes it the safest and most economical energy source compared with other renewable sources, such as solar power and bio-fuel," said Chen.

China now has 11 operational nuclear reactors with a combined installed capacity of some 9,100 MW, which accounts for 1.3 percent of the country's total power generation.

According to a nuclear power development plan approved in 2006, the country expects to raise its nuclear power capacity to 40 GW by 2020, accounting for 5 percent of its total capacity.

With the recent boom in nuclear industry, there have been rumors that the country would readjust the target to 70 GW by 2020.

China plans to start work on four new nuclear plants this year in Haiyang, Rongcheng in eastern Shandong province, Sanmen in eastern Zhejiang province, and Yaogu in southern Guangdong province.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, one of the nation's two major companies developing nuclear reactors, plans to invest 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) in its nuclear projects this year, Xinhua reported.