Development of clean and renewable energy

 Development of clean and renewable energy

China regards the creation of clean and renewable energy as an important national policy, and is developing hydropower, solar power, wind power, natural gas, biomass fuel and methane under its 11^th Five-Year Plan. Current efforts to offset coal consumption include the development of natural gas and coal-bed methane infrastructure, increasing the number of combined heat and power plants, adding approximately 3,000 megawatts (MW) of hydropower annually, and developing renewable energy resources such as wind and photovoltaics for electricity generation.

For China’s electricity generation, renewable sources of energy (including hydroelectricity) accounted for 18.6% in 2001, second to coal. With assistance from the United Nations and the United States, China hopes to embark on a multi-million dollar renewable energy strategy to combat pollution. Wind resources are concentrated in the northern and western regions of China, as well as along the coast, and are suitable for both rural village electrification and large-scale, grid-connected electricity production. The highest wind potential in China lies along the coast and the offshore islands, in or near many of the major population centers. The next highest wind potential region covers Inner Mongolia and the northern Gansu Province, both of which are home to numerous villages with no access at present to grid-based electricity.

Current utilization of solar energy includes small-scale uses, such as household consumption, television relays and communications, but it is increasing steadily, especially in the number of solar kitchen ranges to substitute for the use of coal.  

While solar and wind power provide significant renewable energy potential, China's growth in renewable energy in the next decade will be dominated by hydropower, particularly with completion of the 18.2-gigawatt Three Gorges Dam project in 2009. Although the Three Gorges Dam is seen as both an important source of energy for China's growing electricity consumption needs and a means of taming the Yangtze River, notorious for its disastrous floods, the controversial dam also could prove to be an environmental disaster. Thus far, few attempts have been made to address concerns regarding the accumulation of toxic materials and other pollutants from industrial sites