I originally wanted to write a post only on how the People’s Republic of China is willing to quadruple its solar PV capacity by 2015. But given other news from there got my attention, I thought it would be better to present them all.
First thing first : the Chinese government is not messing around anymore on pollution as no less than the death penalty will be proclaimed for the most serious cases.
Second, according to a study quoted by Treehugger, the air pollution due to coal burning slashes the life expectancy by no less than five years and a half in Northern China.
But the most news worthy piece is that according to Bloomberg :
China’s spending to develop renewable energy may total 1.8 trillion yuan ($294 billion) in the five years through 2015 as part of the nation’s efforts to counter climate change, according to a government official.
China may invest another 2.3 trillion yuan in key energy-saving and emission-reducing projects, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said today at a conference in Beijing.
(…) The increased reliance on renewable sources of energy fits with efforts by China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, to help mitigate the effects of pollution blanketing its major cities. Along with renewables investments, the environment ministry is considering stricter controls on vehicle and industry pollution.
The government aims to have 100 gigawatts of wind-power installed capacity and more than 35 gigawatts of solar power by 2015, Xie reiterated today.
Which is the perfect transition to the last bit of information I wanted to share with you as Reuters bring great news :
” China aims to more than quadruple solar power generating capacity to 35 gigawatts by 2015 in an apparent bid to ease a massive glut in the domestic solar panel industry. The country will add around 10 GW per year from 2013-2015.”
This is a huge leap forward for solar photovoltaic ! Hopefully it will clean up the air and help prevent climate change.
This is done to fight the massive manufacturing capacity of solar panels in the country, which is about 45 GW, compared to a global demand of 35 GW. Could the EU or the US do the same ?