China Cementing Global Dominance of Renewable Energy and Technology

[TaiShang]

China cementing global dominance of renewable energy and technology

It now owns five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms and the largest wind-turbine manufacturer

China is leading the world in renewable energy, investing both domestically and internationally.
Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters

China is cementing its global dominance of renewable energy and supporting technologies, aggressively investing in them both at home and around the globe, leaving countries including the US, UK and Australia at risk of missing the growing market.

A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa) found China’s dominance in renewables is rapidly spreading overseas, with the country accelerating its foreign investment in renewable energy and supporting technologies.

Analysing Chinese foreign investments over US$1bn, Ieefa found 13 in 2016, worth a combined $32bn. That represented a 60% jump over similar investments in 2015.

China was already widely recognised as the largest investor in domestic renewable energy, investing $102bn in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance – more than twice that invested domestically by the US and about five times that of the UK.

The big foreign investments in 2016 included two in Australia, two in Germany and two in Brazil, as well as deals in Chile, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam.

• In Australia, China Light & Power struck a $1.1bn deal, buying power from wind and solar farms.
• In Chile, Tianqi Lithium spent $2.5bn acquiring a 25% stake of a lithium miner and processor. (Lithium is essential for lithium batteries used in electric vehicles and home battery storage.)
• In Germany, Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd spend $1.6bn on a Waste to Energy development.

The report noted the global expansion cements China’s total domination of renewable energy growth globally. China now owned:

• Five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms
  
• The largest wind-turbine manufacturer
• The world’s largest lithium ion manufacturer
• The world’s largest electricity utility

Tim Buckley, director of Ieefa and author of the report, said the election of Donald Trump in the US and lack of supportive policy in Australia left those countries at risk of missing a huge opportunity.

“At the moment China is leaving everyone behind and has a real first-mover and scale advantage, which will be exacerbated if countries such as the US, UK and Australia continue to apply the brakes to clean energy,” he said.

“The US is already slipping well behind China in the race to secure a larger share of the booming clean energy market. With the incoming administration talking up coal and gas, prospective domestic policy changes don’t bode well,” Buckley said.​

But because of the magnitude of opportunities in investment, technology and jobs opportunity expected in the future, he said there was still time for other countries to catch up.

“We are still in a relatively early stage of the transition, so the next couple of years will be defining in terms of which countries gain the major slices of the market,” Buckley said.​

theguardian

China to Boost $100 Billion Green Bond Market for Renewables
November 3, 2015

China is set to become a hotbed for the $100 billion market in bonds tied to environmentally-friendly investments as authorities and developers seek alternatives to loans for funding a transformation to clean energy supplies.

The timing is ripe for so-called green bonds in China because policymakers are “more driven to promote healthy development during a period of economic slowdown,” said Xu Nan, a policy analyst at the Research Center for Climate and Energy Finance under the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Bonds labeled as green channel their proceeds for fund low-carbon transport, renewable energy and other technologies aimed to curtail global warming.

An overview of green bond issuance for the three years to 2015.
In 2014, global green bond issuance more than tripled to $36.6 billion from the year earlier, according to data from the Beijing-based Central University’s research center. China accounted for none of that market. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which hosts a conference in Shanghai starting Tuesday, says value of new green bond lending may reach $40 billion this year, a big expansion on the $100 billion raised in the past five years.

By issuing green bonds, “you’re explicitly telling everyone else you want to channel your capital allocation towards low carbon or green activities,” said Wai-Shin Chan, a Hong Kong-based strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc. “That’s an important signal because it tells not only the government that you want to be part of this, it might increase your chances of gaining public projects in the future.”

Expanding Market
While relatively tiny compared with the total size of the global bond market, the potential in China is ripe given the vast sums being spent on record installations of solar and wind capacity.

“Green bonds in international markets are driven by the needs of ethical investors, which focus on investing in projects with higher sustainable benefits, while China still needs to foster such investor groups,” Central University’s Xu said.


The total volume for the green bond market worldwide may exceed $40 billion this year, Moody’s Investors Service estimates.

Asia Focus
China and India, a pioneer in Asia’s nascent green bond market, are expected to be "prominent drivers of regional issuance over the coming years given the government’s ambitious targets on building out renewable energy capacity," according to an Oct. 19 note by Moody’s.

Until now, bank lending has been the primary source of funding for environmentally friendly projects in China. Green project lending from 21 major Chinese banks -- including China CITIC Bank Corp. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. -- exceeded 6 trillion yuan ($949 billion) as of the end of 2014, according to data from China Banking Association. That represented almost 10 percent of the lending activity on the part of the group.

The green credit ratio will continue to rise, Ma Jun, the chief economist at the People’s Bank of China’s research bureau, said at a briefing in Beijing on Oct. 28.

The nation needs green bonds to broaden financing channels and lower capital costs, he said.

"We think policy banks are certainly primed to issue green bonds," said HSBC’s Chan. China’s local governments may also be interested in issuing muni-green bonds based on infrastructure needs like Europe and North America, said Chan.

Goldwind’s Issue
Some early green bond sales in China have already tested the market. In July, Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. issued $300 million three-year bonds, marking China’s first sale of green bonds denominated in dollars. The deal was almost five times more than the allotment. In October, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.’s sale of 600 million yuan of two-year green bonds were eight times oversubscribed, receiving 4.9 billion yuan of orders.

"Such bonds, which usually have a lower yield, are popular because they meet investors’ specific needs for green concepts," said Nick Duan, a Beijing-based analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Small and medium-sized companies in China are crying out for ways to secure cheaper and easier financing, Central University’s Xu said.

Including environmental protection, China’s green industry needs 2.9 trillion yuan of investment annually in the next five years, the Financial Research Institute of the State Council’s Development Research Center forecasts. Two-thirds of that will be funded through capital markets at home and abroad, the institute says.

China’s entry to the market in “full force” would be a “game-changer” for the green bond market, Standard & Poor’s said in March.

World Leader
China led in renewables last year with investments of $89.5 billion, accounting for almost one out of every three dollars spent on clean energy in the world, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance figures released in January.

The Chinese government aims to get 20 percent of its energy from renewables and nuclear power by 2030 as a means to help cut carbon emissions.

China has the potential to be a leader in green bonds because it aspires to be seen as a leader in green financing among G20 nations, said Deborah Lehr, a senior fellow at the Paulson Institute, a research center on China that’s based in Chicago.

"We’re still waiting to see the regulations but we understand they will be coming out both for green municipal bonds and green corporate bonds by the end of the year," Lehr said. "We’re hoping that’s going to be a really new innovative way of encouraging both the acquisition and deployment of clean technologies."

China may want to have its own standards on green bonds, including which projects are eligible, the management of proceeds and evaluation processes, HSBC’s Chan said.

"The PBOC is working on a set of green bond guidelines,” Chan said. “I suspect there could be more encouraging incentives for buyers too.”

In fact, the Green Finance Committee, a PBOC-approved think tank, has finished a draft report on the definition and categories of green bonds and is seeking comment, Ma Jun, chief economist at the People’s Bank of China, said at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance forum in Shanghai on Tuesday.

The market has also spurred the need for ratings. Noah Holdings Ltd., a wealth management services provider in China, is trying to set up a ratings system for green debt with six rating organizations, its chief research officer, Jin Hainian, said at the BNEF forum.

The system will look at the performance of projects on pollution management, impact on the ecological environment and the sustainability of development, said Jin.

 

[Shotgunner51]

China now the largest installer of clean energy, report says - The Globe and Mail

Richard Blackwell
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 11:25AM EST
Last updated Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 11:27AM EST

China was the largest developer of renewable energy projects in 2015, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all the wind, solar, biopower and small hydro installations around the world.

New numbers from British-based research firm GlobalData show that China has become the largest installer of clean energy, with almost 45 gigawatts of renewable power projects added last year, out of 115 GW that started up worldwide.

One gigawatt is enough to power about 700,000 homes, so globally there was enough new renewable energy installed in 2015 to power about 80 million homes.

The head of GlobalData’s power practice, Ankit Mathur, said China’s renewable position has grown particularly strong in the solar sector, where it became the largest consumer of solar panels in 2014, passing both the United States and Japan. In 2015, China installed 18.4 GW of solar power, more than double the amount in Japan and the United States, where each had about 8 GW of new installations.

Around the world there is now a total of about 914 GW of installed renewable energy capacity, GlobalData estimates, enough to power about 640 million homes. That’s up almost 15 per cent from 2014.

The total amount of renewable power is expected to grow to around 1,511 GW by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 11.3 per cent over the next five years.

Already, there is more renewable electricity being added around the world, each year, than what is being added from new coal– and gas-fired projects, GlobalData said.

GlobalData did not break out Canadian numbers, but based on industry reports the domestic sector is also growing quickly.

The Canadian Wind Energy Association said 1,506 megawatts of new wind was added in Canada in 2015, the sixth highest installation rate in the world. For the fifth consecutive year, wind is the largest source of new electricity generation in the country, CanWEA said.

There is now about 11.2 GW of total wind energy capacity in Canada.

Canada has a little over 2 GW of total solar energy capacity, most of it in Ontario.

Merran Smith, executive director of energy and climate think tank Clean Energy Canada, said the global expansion of green energy production is partly due to the plunging cost of renewable technology. “There is a business case for renewables and we are seeing the investment money going there,” she said. “This is the new economy.”

For Canadian suppliers to the sector, the market goes far beyond domestic clients, she noted. With the huge expansion in projects in two of our key export markets – China and the United States – “we need to be able to provide them with the products they are looking for,” she said.

The GlobalData report said that the most important recent development in global climate-change policy was the adoption of ambitious carbon-reduction targets at the Paris conference. Ms. Smith agreed, saying that this shift in political thinking will “accelerate the transition that is already under way.”

Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report released Thursday that the amount of money spent on clean energy investment around the world hit a new record of $329-billion (U.S.) in 2015, despite the falling cost of renewable technology, a weak European economy, and the steep drop in fossil fuel prices.

 

[onebyone]

China set to surpass its climate targets as renewables soar

Wind and solar energy surged in China in 2015 to record levels, helping the country to pivot away from coal, which still provides two-thirds of its power

China installed a whopping 32.5 gigawatts of wind energy capacity last year
Xu Yu/Xinhua Press/Corbis

China is surging ahead in switching to renewables and away from coal in what its officials say will allow it to surpass its carbon emissions targets.

The country’s solar and wind energy capacity soared last year by 74 and 34 per cent respectively compared with 2014, according to figures issued by China’s National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

Meanwhile, its consumption of coal – the dirtiest of the fossil fuels – dropped by 3.7 per cent, with imports down by a substantial 30 per cent.

The figures back up claims last month in Hong Kong by Xie Zhenhua, China’s lead negotiator at at the UN climate talks in Paris last December, that the country will “far surpass” its 2020 target to reduce carbon emissions per unit of national wealth (GDP) by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels.

Wind power record

Since China emits nearly a third of the world’s carbon dioxide, which is heating up the planet, this could make a major contribution to holding back temperature increases to the 2 °C degree maximum global target agreed by governments last December in Paris.

“The latest figures confirm China’s record-breaking shift toward renewable power and away from coal,” says Tim Buckley of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an energy consultancy in Cleveland, Ohio.

“China’s official 2015 wind installations are an all-time global record of 32.5 gigawatts,” says Buckley. “China itself is the only nation to have come anywhere near this, delivering 20.7 gigawatts of new wind capacity in 2014.”

Competing with fossil fuels

The latest figures state that “clean energy” – a combination of hydro, wind, solar, nuclear and natural gas – now accounts for 18 per cent of all its energy, up from 13 per cent in 2011.

“We’re now at the point where these technologies can compete head-to-head with gas and coal on price, meaning that this growth is only going to accelerate,” says Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of RenewableUK, representing the UK’s wind and wave power producers. “The UK alone has increased the amount it generates from wind power from 1 to 11 per cent in a decade.”

“It’s a really positive signal, a perfect example of an emerging economy trying to shift the way it develops,” says Ranping Song of the World Resources Institute think tank in Washington DC.

Peak coal?

China is due to issue its next five-year economic plan this month. “So it’s a perfect time to see how serious they are about tackling emissions,” Song says.

Despite renewables gains, coal still provides almost two-thirds of China’s power consumption. But the dip in coal consumption over the past two years – which equals an entire year’s coal consumption in Japan – suggests that China may now have reached “peak coal”. “China’s market for coal consumption has started to become saturated, and should gradually decline,” Xie said in Hong Kong.

China set to surpass its climate targets as renewables soar | New Scientist

 

[oprih]

China truly is the world leader when it comes to Green Energy, other countries should take notes.

 

[TaiShang]

The figures back up claims last month in Hong Kong by Xie Zhenhua, China’s lead negotiator at at the UN climate talks in Paris last December, that the country will “far surpass” its 2020 target to reduce carbon emissions per unit of national wealth (GDP) by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels.

This is what I call a responsible developing nation taking on more than it is supposed to be. Thus, China contributes not only through its inclusive development model, but also through constructive development.

 

[JSCh]

China's Wind and Solar Energy Capacity Is Soaring - Gizmodo
Maddie Stone

Smog-filled days may be a part of life in Beijing for now, but China is cutting coal and growing its wind and solar energy capacity fast, according to figures released yesterday by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Solar power generation capacity was up 74 percent in China last year compared with 2014 levels, while wind power generation capacity grew by 34 percent. “China’s official 2015 wind installations are an all-time global record of 32.5 gigawatts,” Tim Buckley of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis told New Scientist.“China itself is the only nation to have come anywhere near this, delivering 20.7 gigawatts of new wind capacity in 2014.”

At the same time, China’s coal consumption dropped by 3.4 percent. Overall, wind, solar, nuclear power, natural gas, and hydropower now account for nearly 20 percent of the world’s largest carbon polluter’s energy mix.

The news adds weight to China’s recent, bold claim that it’ll cut power sector carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2020—a goal that puts the US Clean Power Plan to shame. But perhaps more importantly, by pushing clean energy, China is sending a signal to the world that validates the goals of the Paris climate agreement. It was a historic moment last December, when leaders of 195 countries agreed to wean their nations off fossil fuels. But their agreement was built largely on trust—and since then, the resolve of at least one large carbon emitter has wavered.

As US presidential candidates continue to deny the reality of climate change, China may end up leading the world into the inevitable energy future.

 

[TaiShang]

As US presidential candidates continue to deny the reality of climate change, China may end up leading the world into the inevitable energy future.

Well, wait until Trump comes to power. LOL.

 

[onebyone]

Renewable energy is the way forward

Bloomberg/Getty

China’s era of dark, satanic mills, churning out “stuff” for the rest of the world, is coming to a close.

Instead, the world’s second largest economy wants to accelerate its shift away from heavy, coal-hungry industry,towards a greener future.

This will involve a big switch towards renewable energy and increasing consumption of produce domestically.

That’s the main message from the Chinese government’s draft 13th five-year plan, unveiled in Beijing on 5 March and expected to be adopted this week.


The “new normal” will involve a shift to moderate rather than dramatic economic growth, based more on consumption than exports.

Growth not consumption
“This is a big shift in how China is thinking about its economy,” said Kate Gordon of the Paulson Institute, a sustainable energy think-tank based in Chicago, Illinois, at a press conference last week. “It’s an attempt to decouple economic growth from energy consumption.”

Central to the planned move away from heavy industry is a nationwide effort to reduce dependence on coal, the dirtiest fuel in terms of carbon emissions.

Indeed, China’s carbon emissions may have already peaked, according to a new report by economist Lord Stern to be published this week.

Much of the impetus for change has come from the Chinese public in response to record levels of coal-related air pollution in recent years in some major cities.


Coal dependency
Figures released last week by the Chinese government showed that it still relies on coal for 64 per cent of its total energy consumption, but this is steadily falling, dropping by 3.7 per cent last year compared with 2014.

At the same time its installation of solar and wind energy is soaring by record levels, rising 74 and 34 per cent respectively last year compared with the previous year.

And it looks as if China is serious about continuing to phase out coal. It plans to introduce caps on coal consumptionin its 10 most polluted cities, according to Barbara Finamore, the Asia director of the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington DC. Capping targets have already been set by a further 20 provinces and 30 cities.

The government has set up a new body to ensure those targets are met. “It’s called the Regional Coal Consumption Reduction and Substitution Working Group, and it will evaluate the coal reduction plans of each region,” says Finamore. “They can impose penalties on plants that fail to meet the targets.”

Shrinking industry
Already, says Gordon, many of China’s heavy industries are beginning to contract as demand from abroad for manufactured goods shrinks. “China’s steel sector is currently working at just 66 per cent of its capacity,” she says.

The new five-year plan includes $23 billion in funding to give workers in older industries new skills suited to modern “sunrise” sectors such as biotechnology, aviation and intelligent manufacturing.

“What’s exciting is that China has an integrated approach which tackles all these problems – from air quality to climate change – together rather than separately,” says Gordon. “The key will be to show a model to the rest of the world for how to switch to sustainable economic development.”

Read more: China’s climate comeback: How the top polluter is cleaning up


China unveils vision of greener future in its five-year plan | New Scientist

 

[greenwood]

Good point.

 

[war&peace]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

View attachment 310229

In the US Wind Power seemed like the ultimate "go to" clean energy source 40 years ago...however an unforeseen consequence has been an extremely large number of birds killed a year ...especially large ones like eagles.
This has really soured public opinion here.

 

[TaiShang]

Wind Power seemed like the ultimate "go to" clean energy source 40 years ago...however an unforeseen consequence has been an extremely large number of birds killed a year ...especially large ones like eagles.
This has really soured public opinion.

From the chart it is understood that the US in fact invested significantly. In fact, since the early 90s, US governments have been subsidizing clean energy, including wind, which only expired 20 years and billions of dollars later in 2013 because it is believed the industry was now self-sustained.

Perhaps few questioned billions of dollars of annual subsidies to oil companies that do environmentally not so friendly fracking and all other stuff.

If wind has stalled in the US, the reason must be "my lobbyist stronger than yours" rather than some abstract environment consciousness.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

From the chart it is understood that the US in fact invested significantly. In fact, since the early 90s, US governments have been subsidizing clean energy, including wind, which only expired 20 years and billions of dollars later in 2013 because it is believed the industry was now self-sustained.

Perhaps few questioned billions of dollars of annual subsidies to oil companies that do environmentally not so friendly fracking and all other stuff.

If wind has stalled in the US, the reason must be "my lobbyist stronger than yours" rather than some abstract environment consciousness.

Here is an example:

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breakin...troversial-wind-turbine-company-shutting-down

"Altamont Winds Vice President Bill Damon wrote in the email to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service that "the reduction of avian impacts" was the primary reason for the company to discontinue its Altamont operations."

There's 3000 turbines in that pass. They are shutting 800.

 

[GS Zhou]

Wind Power seemed like the ultimate "go to" clean energy source 40 years ago...however an unforeseen consequence has been an extremely large number of birds killed a year ...especially large ones like eagles.
This has really soured public opinion.

yes, yes. We should all obey the always-correct public opinion:
- coal power is making global warming, therefore we should abandon it.
- hydro power is killing fishes and may result in other unforeseen consequences, therefore we should abandon it.
- nuclear power is toooo dangerous, therefore we should abandon it.
- wind power is killing birds, therefore we should abandon it.
- solar power, ummm, the production of solar panels makes many pollutants, we should also abandon it.

Ok, tell me which energy resource we could use now? Can the politically-correct attitude be used for electricity generation? Or maybe we should all go back to the caves and stop using electricity??

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

yes, yes. We should all obey the always-correct public opinion:
- coal power is making global warming, therefore we should abandon it.
- hydro power is killing fishes and may result in other unforeseen consequences, therefore we should abandon it.
- nuclear power is toooo dangerous, therefore we should abandon it.
- wind power is killing birds, therefore we should abandon it.
- solar power, ummm, the production of solar panels makes many pollutants, we should also abandon it.

Ok, tell me which energy resource we could use now? Can the politically-correct attitude be used for electricity generation? Or maybe we should all go back to the caves and stop using electricity??

Yep, there isn't a free lunch.

Did the coal fired plants (1882)...tons of pollution. (33% of our power)
Did the big hydroelectric river dams (8%, US pioneered it in 1882)...wiped out our priceless salmon stocks.
Did the wind thing (4.7%, the US pioneered wind farms)..killed birds by the hundreds of thousands.
Did the nuclear power plant thing (1957)...tons of radioactive waste that is hot for centuries. (20% of our power)
Solar in the past has been so-so since the highest population areas are at high latitudes.

Now moved to natural gas fired power plants (33% of our power now)
People are yelling about global warming.