The Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) has unveiled its 12th five-year plan for renewable energy. Unsurprisingly, the plan focuses on the mature renewable technologies of hydropower, wind power, solar energy and biomass. And this should give the country's fledgling biofuel and biological chemistry industry a leg up. The plan introduces a new goal for renewable energy that should see renewable energy use in China rise to the equivalent of 478 million tonnes of standard coal by 2015. If achieved, more than more than 9.5% of the countrys total energy will come from renewables. Breaking the figures down, by 2015 hydroelectric capacity should increase to 290,000MW, cumulative grid-connected wind power to 100,000MW, solar power to 21,000MW and biomass production should hit the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of coal. The NEA predicts that 150 million tonnes of biomass will be used in 2015, including biomass fuels, bioethanol and biodiesel. .
Against a backdrop of consumers enduring substantial fuel price fluctuations, Chinese experts are cautiously optimistic that the new biomass energy targets could help. However, some experts point out that the term biomass energy encompasses a wider definition than that used in the last five year plan and includes such burning wood for cooking. Theoretically, traditional energy sources, such as biomass briquettes and biogas, could potentially go a long toward helping the country meet its targets. .
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