Coal-shunning China explores solar power, alternative energy solutions to beat pollution
Clean-energy alternative comes into play as the central government begins phasing out coal-burning plants to meet emissions targets
With solar energy production costs continuing to fall, the market is experiencing what many analysts are calling a boom. In many parts of the world, solar power is now cheaper than diesel oil, gas, coal or nuclear energy.
China, as it rallies to clean up its increasingly polluted air, has raised its solar energy target for this year, declaring it will add almost 2.5 times the capacity that the United States added last year.
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) recently said more than 5GW of solar capacity was added in the first quarter of 2015, more than in the first two quarters of 2014 combined.
Newly released NEA data provide signs of how China plans to follow the ambitious climate-change targets that it agreed on with the US last year. In line with the terms of the deal, China’s carbon emissions will peak no later than 2030 and the non-fossil fuel share of its energy consumption will increase to 20 per cent, up from around 10 per cent in recent years.