China Drafts 10-Year Plan To Raise ‘Clean Energy’ To 15 Pct Of Total Use

Lundi, mars 8th, 2010

China plans to have « clean energy » account for 15 percent of its total consumption under a 10-year renewable energy promotion program soon to be made public, a state-run newspaper cites the head of the country’s National Energy Administration as saying, reported AP.

The government will spend billions of dollars on building nuclear and solar power plants, wind farms and on research into renewable energy technology, Zhang Guobao said in Tuesday’s edition of the China Daily.

The plan would accelerate efforts already under way to help ease reliance on expensive oil imports and heavily polluting coal, which fuels about three-quarters of China’s electricity generation.

It also is in line with Beijing’s pledges to rein in output of greenhouse gases by reducing China’s carbon intensity — its use of fossil fuels per unit of economic output — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.

Renewable energy accounted for 9.9 percent of China’s total energy consumption last year, up from 8.5 percent the year before, the report said. Under the plan, by 2020, the government intends to raise that to 15 percent.

Source : Konaxis



China Mulls Compulsory Green Energy Purchases By Grid Operators

Mardi, décembre 29th, 2009

China’s top legislature Tuesday discussed a legal amendment to require electricity grid companies to buy all the power produced by renewable energy generators, reported Xinhua.

The State Council energy department and the state power regulatory agency should supervise the purchases, said the draft amendment to the Renewable Energy Law, which was submitted to the government for its second reading.

A national plan on renewable energy development issued in 2007 set a target to increase renewable resources to supply 15 percent of its total energy consumption by 2020.

Power enterprises refusing to buy power produced by renewable energy generators will be fined up to an amount double that of the economic loss of the renewable energy company, the draft said.

However, some lawmakers said the development of renewable energy in China faced many problems such as difficulties in connecting with the grid, over-production of wind power and solar cell material, and a lack of innovative key technologies.

They suggested that revision of the law should focus on prevention of blind development of renewable energy.

Of various types of renewable energy in China, lawmakers said, hydropower’s quality and technology was the best. They suggested to further standardize hydropower development.

Other lawmakers said the country should support the development of biomass energy using crop straw so as to improve ecological environment and farmers’ income.

Source : Konaxis



China Plans Emergency Oil-Storage Tanks In Northeast

Lundi, novembre 2nd, 2009

China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, plans to build emergency oil-storage tanks in the northeast to help bolster fuel-supply security, reported Bloomberg.

The tanks are part of the second phase of China’s construction of emergency oil stockpiles, said Zhang Guobao, the chief of the National Energy Administration.

China will set up oil reserves equivalent to 100 days of net imports before 2020 to avoid supply disruptions, China Petrochemical Corp., the nation’s top refiner, said in a company newsletter on Sept. 23, citing a plan approved by the State Council. The stockpiles will be built in three stages, according to the state-run company.

Construction of the second phase has started with the Dushanzi facility in the western province of Xinjiang, Zhang said last month.

Under the first phase, China has finished building reserves equivalent to about 30 days of net imports, the energy administration said in June.

The International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 oil-consuming nations, recommends its member countries to maintain a stockpile level of 90 days of net oil imports.

Source : Konaxis



Libya to exercise right to buy Verenex assets

Mardi, mars 24th, 2009

Libya will exercise its right to buy the assets of Verenex Energy Inc., blocking a roughly US$400 million deal that China had sought with the Canadian oil producer, said the country’s top oil official.

Libya will match the amount that China National Petroleum Corp. had agreed to pay  for Verenex,  Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya’s National Oil Co., said  on the sidelines of an energy conference.. Libya  wants to buy the company out of « commercial interest » as it tries to boost its oil-pumping capacity, said Mr. Ghanem.

« There are some formalities we are working out, » he added, but declined to elaborate.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, Verenex said that « it is unable to confirm or deny reports » that Libya plans to buy Verenex. CNPC wasn’t available to comment.

Calgary-based Verenex Energy said in late February that CNPC International Ltd., a unit of CNPC, had agreed to buy the company for 10 Canadian dollars a share (US$7.88).

But a pre-emption clause in that deal gives the Libyan government the right of first refusal to buy Verenex’s assets, including its main holding, a 50% stake in an oil block in northwest Libya, an area rich in hydrocarbons.

Libya has the highest proven oil reserve in Africa, at  42 billion barrels. The country  is hoping to raise production capacity to 3 million barrels a day from around 2 million barrels a day by 2013 with the help of foreign oil companies.

China had hoped to add Verenex’s assets to a hoard of others that state-run Chinese energy companies have been snapping up around the world in recent years to secure supplies for the country’s development needs.

Source : Konaxis