New Energy: Key to Energy Conservation and Reduced Emissions

A fleet of 40 Foton Generation II pure- electric buses hit Beijing’s roads on September 12. Each one saves 11 kWh more electricity per 100 km than the Generation I model. Over a one-year period in which a bus clocks up 60，000 km， this adds up to a saving of around 6，600 kWh of electricity – enough power to run an average household for six years.

Foton has provided Beijing with 3，000 new-energy and environmentally-friendly buses in 2013， including 1，000 that run on liquefied natural gas（LNG） and 2，000 pure-electric buses.

Improvements in Beijing

China will promote new-energy motor vehicles in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area， the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta， where PM 2.5 levels are the highest， according to a circular issued jointly by the National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）， the Ministry of Science and Technology， the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance. From 2013 to 2015， the government expects sales in the country’s megacities and key regions of at least 10，000 new-energy vehicles， and of 5，000 units in other cities and regions. It will also encourage procurement of new-energy vehicles by local governments and public institutions. The document proposes that no less than 30 percent of autos purchased for public transportation， public affairs， logistics and environmental sanitation purposes be new-energy vehicles.

Development and utilization of new energy is now crucial to controlling and preventing environmental pollution.

In addition to new-energy buses， 1，600 electric taxis are also at large on the roads of Beijing’s nine suburban districts and counties. Their operational costs are significantly lower than gasoline-fueled cabs.

Tsinghua and two other universities launched a project on September 11 that enables teachers and students on the three campuses to rent electric motor vehicles from a pool of 100. It will expand to 200 by the end of this year. The project is part of the Electric Vehicles in Beijing Plan initiated by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology. Its ultimate aim is to set up electric vehicle rental services in 100 science parks and 100 colleges， universities and scientific research institutions， as well as a website for sharing rental service information， by 2017.

By the end of 2017 an estimated 200，000 new- and clean-energy vehicles will hit Beijing’s roads， 70 percent of them private cars. The Beijing municipal government is also considering a non-restrictive policy on license plates for purchases of new-energy cars. At present， prospective car purchasers obtain plates through a lottery system.

Solar and biomass energy utilization has also been greatly promoted in big cities， notably Beijing.

To promote solar energy， Beijing launched the“Sunshine Bathrooms” and “Sunshine Schools” programs. The latter entails installing solar photovoltaic（PV） systems capable of generating 120 million kwh of green electricity a year on the roofs of 100 middle and elementary schools. China’s largest rooftop solar PV project in the public sector to date， the first batch of 61 schools is now generating electricity. A rooftop solar PV project has also been systematically promoted in industrial development zones and factories in Daxing District， south Beijing. The solar PV system near the Badaling Great Wall in north Beijing， with an installed capacity of 31.08 mega-watts， is the first renewable energy project specifically aimed at agricultural production and forestry.

In 2012， the total installed capacity of solar PV system in Beijing stood at 60 mega-watts， and solar energy accounted for more than 50 percent of the total new energies in use. By 2015 this figure is expected to surpass 250 mega-watts.

Biomass energy has undergone rapid development in Beijing over the past few years. Projects include the use of methane in Liuminying and its nearby six villages in Daxing District， the methane power plant at Deqingyuan chicken farm， and the use of marsh gas to generate power in the Asuwei waste treatment plant. All have improved the living environment in suburban areas and resolved energy shortage problems.

The Deqingyuan Eco-Garden， with a three million chicken capacity， is the biggest modern chicken farm in Asia. In the past its daily output of 220 tons of feces and 170 tons of waste water caused serious pollution. Deqingyuan launched the methane project to deal with the problem. It comprised two phases. The first was the setting up of a methane power plant， and the second was the purification of methane to produce natural gas. So far Deqingyuan has converted the feces of three million chickens into 14 million kWh of green electricity and gas that 400 households use for cooking. In the next year， Deqingyuan plans to establish a methane plant in Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market. It will be used to convert vegetable and fruit waste into natural gas to meet the market’s energy demand. Explorations of trash treat- ment in communities to generate power and gas for their residents are also underway.

Beijing， with over 20 million permanent residents， formerly burned more coal than any other capital. In 1998， coal accounted for 75 percent of the Chinese capital’s total energy consumption. Recent statistics released by the Beijing municipal government， however， show that clean energy consumption now accounts for 46.7 percent of the total – far more than that of coal， which now stands at 25 percent.

Expand the Scale

The 2013 summer heat posed an unprecedented test for China’s power grid. Thermal power still constitutes the bulk of energy generation in China. But over the past few years wind， solar and biomass energies have contributed to power supply throughout the country.

By the end of 2012， 62.66 million kilowatts of installed wind capacity had been connected to the state grid – a 31 percent increase over the previous year. The country’s wind power generation consequently jumped 41 percent from that of 2011 to reach 100.8 billion kilowatt-hours in 2012. Wind power generated in 2012 saved 32.86 million tons of standard coal and 167 million tons of water. It also reduced emissions of carbon dioxide by 84.34 million tons， of sulfur dioxide by 228，000 tons， of dust by 40，000 tons， and of nitric oxide by 242，000 tons.

Yet wind power accounts for a paltry two percent of the total electricity sent through the national power grid， according to former director of the National En-ergy Administration Zhang Guobao. Owing to high costs and connection problems， only a portion of wind generated electricity can be connected to the state grid and sold.

The solar PV industry also faces impediments. The Jinglong Industrial Group is a Hebei-based large solar PV hi-tech firm that in 2012 ranked 13th among the global top 500 new energy enterprises. Incomplete policy is the biggest impediment to development of China’s solar PV industry， according to Jin Baofang， chairman of the board and general manager of the Jinglong Industrial Group. “Although China has issued the Renewable Energy Law， the absence of supportive policies， a plan and relevant standards and regulations makes it difficult for new energy industry to develop，” Jin Baofang said.

On August 30， the NDRC issued a new policy on applying a price structure to the building of PV power stations in different areas， according to differences in solar energy resources and costs of constructing power plants. It entails dividing the country into three electricity price zones. The government will grant subsidies to individual solar PV projects based on the volumes of power they generate.

By the end of 2012， hydropower accounted for 249 million kW of the total installed renewable energy generation capacity – a year-on-year increase of 6.8 percent， according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission statistics. Wind power capacity rose 31.6 percent to 60.83 million kW， while solar capacity surged 47.8 percent to 3.28 million kW. The installed nuclear power capacity now stands at 12.5 million kW.

In 2012， the total consumption of natural gas， hydropower， wind power and nuclear power accounted for 14.5 percent of total energy consumption – 1.5 percentage points higher than in 2011. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 released on July 2 shows that China has surpassed Germany to become the country second only to the U.S. in renewable energy generation.

“China’s coal consumption accounts for about 70 percent of its total energy consumption， and we of course want to change the situation. But coal will inevitably remain our main source of energy supply. We can， however， reduce its proportion within total energy consumption，” Zhang Guobao said. “We must focus on clean use of coal to avoid high pollution， high emissions and low efficiency.”

Maintain Vigilance

Christof Rühl， B.P. chief economist， said upon publication of The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 that the development of renewable energy still depends largely on policy support， and that it will be difficult to cover the costs if expansion is too rapid. Further investigations are therefore necessary on how to maintain steady growth of the industry through policy protection and promote technological advances and innovations.

From a practical perspective， the problems in China are plain to see. Taking new-energy vehicles as an example， although the sales volume grew relatively fast in the first half of 2013， the total scale remains small. The country’s 5，885 newly produced new-energy vehicles represent a 56.3 percent increase over the same period last year. Their 5，889 sales volume is also 42.7 percent higher. The main impediment to popularization and promotion of new-energy vehicles is insufficiency of infrastructure， such as charging stations. Potential buyers also have low confidence in this new technology as regards after-sales service. But as Zhang Guobao said， all new entities have their imperfections. He believes that electric vehicles have undergone significant improvements. “These vehicles can travel greater distances each time they are charged， and can reach speeds almost as high as gasoline-fueled cars. And the charging time is shorter，” Zhang said.

China’s Renewable Energy Law came into effect in January 2006 and was modified at the end of 2009. According to relevant provisions of the Renewable Energy Law， the NDRC issued a Medium and Longterm Development Plan for Renewable Energy， and the 11th Five-year （2006-2010） Plan for the Development of Renewable Energy. The former states that the comprehensive objectives of China’s renewable energy development in the coming 15 years comprise： expanding the proportion of renewable energy in total energy consumption； resolving electricity shortages in remote off-grid areas， and daily life fuel shortages in rural areas； promoting utilization of organic wastes as energy； and promoting development of renewable energy industries.

Zhang Guobao has followed the entire process of drafting and adopting the Renewable Energy Law. He sees its enforcement as the next vital step. Local governments have the right to issue licenses on renewable energy projects， which will bring more enterprises into the field. Private enterprises account for a large proportion of the new energy field. Private investment is no doubt spurred by the industry’s huge potential.