China has become the top investor in renewable
energy in the world, experts said Tuesday at the ongoing forum for decentralized
sustainable energy solutions in China.
Dr. Eric Martinot, a senior research fellow with the U.S.-based Worldwatch
Institute and senior visiting scholar of Tsinghua University, said that
excluding large hydropower, China invested 6 billion U.S. dollars in renewable
energy in 2005 out of a global total investment of 38 billion dollars.
Soaring oil prices have made renewable energy a focus for world investors,
said Martinot.
Government support for renewable energy was 10 billion dollars in 2004 for
the United States and Europe, including budget fund and policy support. The
United States and Europe provide more than 700 million dollars per year for
research and development, said Martinot.
Moreover, large commercial banks are starting to notice renewable energy and
several are adding renewable energy investments to their lending portfolios, he
said.
The industry of renewable energy is booming. There are now more than 70
renewable energy companies worldwide with a market capitalization greater than
40 million dollars each. Their total market capitalization has been over 30
billion dollars.
Major investments and acquisitions have been made in recent years by leading
global companies such as GE, Siemens, Shell, BP, Sanyo and Sharp and the
industry could provide over 1.7 billion jobs worldwide, he said.China is a great
potential renewable energy market for world investors.
Among the 6 billion dollars investment in 2005, most was poured into small
hydropower and solar hot water energy, with 600 million US dollars for wind
power.
China plans to raise its electricity installed capacity for renewable energy
to 10 percent of its total power capacity by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020.
By 2010, renewable energy excluding large hydropower will account for five
percent of China's total primary energy consumption and the percentage is
planned to rise to 10 percent by 2020.
The Chinese government has given much policy support to the industry of
renewable energy.
The law for renewable energy, the first of its kind is China, came into
effect at the beginning of this year.
Speaking at a meeting on energy development on the last month, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao called for effective measures to ensure the implementation of
the government's energy saving and renewable development policies and emphasized
that renewable energy is an important strategic alternative to coal and oil.
