China to use renewable energy to avoid over-dependence on imports

Sat Apr 23, 1:37 PM ET
BOAO, China (AFP) – China sought to reassure the region over its voracious economy, saying that it intended to avoid over-dependence on imported energy by 2020 through increased use of domestic renewable sources.
“Now China’s economic development is very fast, but it will by no means lead to strained energy supplies worldwide. It’s not the case,” said Ma Kai, head of the Cabinet-level National Development and Reform Commission.

“Foreign energy supplies might become a useful supplement to domestic supplies,” he told businesspeople and officials at the Boao Forum for Asia, named after the south Chinese resort town where it is taking place.

China’s leaders seem to have picked this weekend’s forum as an opportunity to play down their economy’s potential to wreak havoc on global energy markets.

His remarks came as state-controlled media suggested China wishes to eventually reduce its dependency on foreign energy.

Last year, China’s oil imports accounted for about 40 percent of total supply, according to government statistics quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency.

China hopes to lower its reliance on oil imports to around 35 percent by 2020, and seek to maintain it at that level after that date, Xinhua said, citing Wang Tao, senior vice president of the World Petroleum Congress.

“We should be aware that China is not just a big energy consumer, it’s also a major producer of energy,” China’s fourth most powerful leader, Jia Qinglin, told the gathering at Boao.

“Imports only account for a small part of China’s energy consumption … according to our estimate, in the year 2020, the imported energy will only account for a small proportion of all the energy consumed by the country.”

While China is not going to decrease its energy consumption, a combination of conservation and the search for additional energy resources would keep China supplied mainly by domestic sources, he argued.

“We will support non-coal sources such as nuclear energy, wind power, solar energy and other renewable energy resources,” he said.

Coal production will continue, but with better mines with improved safety equipment, he said.

The long-term implications of a rising China is a source of growing concern worldwide.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs recently published a study predicting oil prices could reach 105 dollars a barrel, partly because Chinese growth rates showed no signs of flagging.

The International Monetary Fund has projected that oil consumption will increase from about 82 million barrels a day last year to almost 140 million in 2030.

China alone will contribute almost a quarter to the increase in demand between 2004 and 2030 due to its fast economic growth and large population, the IMF said.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who also attended the Boao forum Saturday, rather than stressing competition for scarce resources, suggested that Asians and Europeans were facing similar challenges over energy.

“An increasing energy dependence of both European and Asian economies … underlines the need for improved energy and resource conservation efficiency,” the Austrian leader said.

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