China, India to build 47 nukes' worth of solar capacity
Asia's two most energy-hungry nations will vastly expand solar power generation in the coming years as the region turns to renewable power sources.
China will add the equivalent of 27 nuclear reactors of solar capacity, and India will build 20 reactors' worth (assuming an output of 1 million kilowatts per reactor).
In September, the Indian government unveiled plans for the world's biggest solar plant: a 4 million kilowatt facility to be built in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. The first 1 million kilowatts of this so-called ultra-megasolar project is to be completed by 2016. Bharat Heavy Electricals and four other state-owned enterprises will run the facility as a joint venture. India has several other massive solar farms on the drawing board. Plans call for increasing the country's photovoltaic generating capacity from less than 2 million kilowatts to 22 million kilowatts by 2022.
China is aiming even higher. The government in July raised its 2015 target for solar capacity from 21 million kilowatts to 35 million kilowatts -- more than quadruple its existing stock.
Over the 20 years from 2010, China's energy needs will rise by about 60% and India's by around 90%, the International Energy Agency predicts. Both giants rely heavily on imported fossil fuels that could become dearer as other emerging markets' appetites grow. And neither can afford to ignore the environment, hence the appeal of renewable energy.
Until now, their preferred shade of green energy has been wind, which is cheaper to harness than sunlight. China ranked first in wind power output last year, with India following in fifth place. Homegrown industries have sprung up to supply wind turbines, but suitable locations to put them are becoming scarce.
Other Asian countries are giving earthier sources of energy a try. Thailand, which aims to satisfy a quarter of its final energy consumption with renewables by 2021, has pinned its hopes on biomass, described by the Energy Ministry as less expensive and more stable than solar. Ring of Fire nations Indonesia and the Philippines sit atop untapped underground heat. Japanese trading company Sumitomo will join France's GDF Suez and an Indonesian developer in building two geothermal plants on Sumatra. Fellow trading houses Marubeni and Itochu, and Kyushu Electric Power, a Japanese utility, will take part in similar projects in Indonesia.
Unsteady by nature, solar and wind energy cannot simply replace conventional and nuclear power facilities. Moreover, they could entail higher prices for consumers. In Japan, it cost 33 yen ($0.32) to 38 yen for 1 kilowatt-hour of solar-generated electricity in 2010 -- three to four times the cost of coal-produced power. Since introducing an incentive program for renewable power generation in July 2012, Japan has approved more than 20 million kilowatts of planned solar capacity. Utilities are required to buy all the output from such projects but can tack the cost onto electric rates. The industry ministry reckons the renewable energy feed-in tariffs will cost users some 810 billion yen in 2020, or 276 yen a month for the typical household. Should China or India adopt a similar scheme, the burden would have to fall somewhere -- the state, corporations or households.
China, India to build 47 nukes' worth of solar capacity- Nikkei Asian Review
Asia's two most energy-hungry nations will vastly expand solar power generation in the coming years as the region turns to renewable power sources.
China will add the equivalent of 27 nuclear reactors of solar capacity, and India will build 20 reactors' worth (assuming an output of 1 million kilowatts per reactor).
In September, the Indian government unveiled plans for the world's biggest solar plant: a 4 million kilowatt facility to be built in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. The first 1 million kilowatts of this so-called ultra-megasolar project is to be completed by 2016. Bharat Heavy Electricals and four other state-owned enterprises will run the facility as a joint venture. India has several other massive solar farms on the drawing board. Plans call for increasing the country's photovoltaic generating capacity from less than 2 million kilowatts to 22 million kilowatts by 2022.
China is aiming even higher. The government in July raised its 2015 target for solar capacity from 21 million kilowatts to 35 million kilowatts -- more than quadruple its existing stock.
Over the 20 years from 2010, China's energy needs will rise by about 60% and India's by around 90%, the International Energy Agency predicts. Both giants rely heavily on imported fossil fuels that could become dearer as other emerging markets' appetites grow. And neither can afford to ignore the environment, hence the appeal of renewable energy.
Until now, their preferred shade of green energy has been wind, which is cheaper to harness than sunlight. China ranked first in wind power output last year, with India following in fifth place. Homegrown industries have sprung up to supply wind turbines, but suitable locations to put them are becoming scarce.
Other Asian countries are giving earthier sources of energy a try. Thailand, which aims to satisfy a quarter of its final energy consumption with renewables by 2021, has pinned its hopes on biomass, described by the Energy Ministry as less expensive and more stable than solar. Ring of Fire nations Indonesia and the Philippines sit atop untapped underground heat. Japanese trading company Sumitomo will join France's GDF Suez and an Indonesian developer in building two geothermal plants on Sumatra. Fellow trading houses Marubeni and Itochu, and Kyushu Electric Power, a Japanese utility, will take part in similar projects in Indonesia.
Unsteady by nature, solar and wind energy cannot simply replace conventional and nuclear power facilities. Moreover, they could entail higher prices for consumers. In Japan, it cost 33 yen ($0.32) to 38 yen for 1 kilowatt-hour of solar-generated electricity in 2010 -- three to four times the cost of coal-produced power. Since introducing an incentive program for renewable power generation in July 2012, Japan has approved more than 20 million kilowatts of planned solar capacity. Utilities are required to buy all the output from such projects but can tack the cost onto electric rates. The industry ministry reckons the renewable energy feed-in tariffs will cost users some 810 billion yen in 2020, or 276 yen a month for the typical household. Should China or India adopt a similar scheme, the burden would have to fall somewhere -- the state, corporations or households.
China, India to build 47 nukes' worth of solar capacity- Nikkei Asian Review
