RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA - RESOURCE ASSESSMENT, TECHNOLOGY STATUS, AND GREENHOUSE-GAS MITIGATION POTENTIAL

China has become the third largest energy user in the world, and its c oal-dominated energy structure implies high CO2 emissions. The amount of CO2 emissions from China may surpass that of the United States with in 20-30 years, making China the world's largest source of greenhouse gases by 2020. Currently, renewable energy resources (except for hydro power) account for only a fraction of China's total energy consumption . However, China has abundant solar energy resources. More than two th irds of China receives an annual total insolation that exceeds 5.9 GJ/ m(2) (1,639 kWh/m(2)) with more than 2,200 hours of sunshine a year. W ind energy potential in China is about 3,200 GW, of which 253 GW is de emed technically exploitable. China has a wide range of biomass resour ces that can be used for energy supply and high temperature geothermal resources suitable for power generation located mainly in Tibet and Y unnan provinces. Renewable energy technologies have been actively depl oyed in China. Although PV power stations have not being connected to the national grid, total installed capacity was 3 MW in 1994. Solar wa ter heaters are by far the largest solar thermal application in China with a total installed capacity of 3.3 million m(2) in 1994. By the en d of 1995, total installed capacity of grid-connected wind power plant s had reached 36 MW. Also, over 140,000 small wind generators ranging in size from 50 W to 5 kW have been deployed with a total installed ca pacity of 17 MW. China is a world leader in the development and applic ation of anaerobic technologies for the production of fuel gas and was te treatment and has by far the largest biomass gasification R&D capac ity in the (sic). Although renewable energy is projected to play a sma ll role in future electricity generation, it is expected to be much mo re significant in the total energy sector. Under one scenario, renewab le energy other than hydro provides up to 4% of the total energy suppl y and 88 million tons of carbon emission reduction by 2020. The estima ted growth in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as serious local and r egional environmental pollution problems caused by combustion of fossi l fuels, provide strong arguments for the development of renewable ene rgy resources. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.