China Leads Renewable Energy Push In Asia-Pacific

Sep 08, 2015

The Asia-Pacific Region continues to move toward renewable energy, with China leading the way and becoming a major global player.

These are some of the conclusions from GlobalData’s Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2015, which finds that many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific Region “have adopted policy instruments such as Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs), Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), soft loans, and tax incentives to promote renewable energy.”

GlobalData, a global intelligence provider for the energy and healthcare industries, published its newest report late last month, in which it investigates the policy measures being used throughout the Asia-Pacific Region to tackle the growth of renewable energy.

Unsurprisingly, according to GlobalData, “Investment in renewable energy projects increased following the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997,” of which Australia, Japan, and New Zealand are all signatories. China and India, who were only faced with non-binding targets as part of the Kyoto Protocol, later signed the Copenhagen Accord in 2009, pledging to work toward binding targets for carbon intensity reduction of 20 to 25% and 40 to 45% by 2020 respectively.

GlobalData also put together the following table, outlining the policy measures currently in place for the promotion of renewable energy throughout the Asia-Pacific Region:

GlobalData also highlighted the importance of China in the Asia-Pacific Region, describing it as an emerging “major player in the global renewable energy industry” and a “leading country” in the Asia-Pacific Region.

China announced its 12th five-year plan in 2011, covering the period 2011 to 2015, with targets to install 70 GW of wind power capacity, 20 GW of solar power, and 7.5 GW of biomass power by 2015. GlobalData claims that China “has already achieved its target by reaching a total installed renewable capacity of 224.8 GW in 2014,” adding that “renewable sources accounted for 16.4% of its power in 2014 and are expected to reach 22% in 2020.”

Specifically impressive is China’s role as the leading wind power market in the world — a position the American Wind Energy Association loves to challenge — with a total installed capacity of 115.6 GW in 2014, with the US following behind with only 66 GW. A record 13.8 GW of wind capacity was installed in 2009, which was then surpassed with 18.9 GW in 2010.

Source: CleanTechnica