IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VOL. 1, NO.
2, JULY 2010
A Comprehensive Review on the Development
of Sustainable Energy Strategy and
Implementation in China
Xia Yang, Yonghua Song, Fellow, IEEE, Guanghui Wang, and Weisheng Wang, Member, IEEE
(Invited Paper)
Abstract—China is faced with significant challenges in the
energy sector such as energy shortage, environmental pollution,
greenhouse gas emission, and energy supply in rural areas, which
severely restrict its sustainable development. The promotion of
a sustainable energy system is the key solution to tackling those
issues. In this paper, the current status and trends of sustainable
energy development in China are elaborated, taking account of
renewable energy, nuclear energy, and energy efficiency. The
strategies of sustainable energy in China are brought forward ac-
cordingly, and the corresponding implementations of sustainable
energy development in China are expounded as well. Note that
the development of clean coal and nuclear power with innovative
technologies can vigorously promote China’s sustainable devel-
opment since renewable energy as a whole, with the exception
of hydro power, is still very small compared with conventional
generation. In the end, this paper concludes that China must set a
step-by-step unified national energy plan to promote the construc-
tion of a sustainable energy system, which will be economically,
environmentally, and socially viable, and, thus, China would play
an important role to promote global sustainable development.
Index Terms—Biomass, carbon capture and sequestration
(CCS), clean coal technology (CCT), energy conservation, energy
efficiency (EE), energy saving, geothermal power, integrated
gasification combined cycle (IGCC), nuclear power, offshore wind
power, onshore wind power, photovoltaic (PV), renewable energy,
solar power, sustainable development, sustainable energy, tidal
power, wave power, wind power.
I. INTRODUCTION
USTAINABLE energy resources are most often regarded
S as including all renewable sources, such as wind power,
solar power, biomass, geothermal power, tidal and wave power,
etc. [1]. It usually also includes technologies that improve en-
ergy efficiency (EE). Nuclear energy is the only energy source
Manuscript received December 31, 2009; revised March 27, 2010; accepted
May 16, 2010. Date of current version June 23, 2010.
X. Yang and Y. Song are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Ts-
inghua University, Beijing 100084, China (e-mail: yangxia_ts@mail.tsinghua.
edu.cn; yhsong@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn).
G. Wang is with State Grid Information & Telecommunication CO. LTD,
Beijing 100761, China (e-mail: wangguanghui@sgcc.com.cn).
W. Wang is with New Energy Research Institute under China Electric Power
Research Institute, Beijing 100192, China (e-mail: wangws@epri.ac.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TSTE.2010.2051464
1949-3029/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
57
which can replace fossil energy on a large scale. As the Gen-
eration III nuclear reactor technology matures, it can offer sig-
nificant improvements in both safety and economics over the
previous nuclear reactor technology. From this point of view,
nuclear energy also can be regarded as a kind of sustainable en-
ergy. So in this paper the interpretation of sustainable energy
includes renewable energy, advanced technology-based nuclear
energy, and EE improvement technologies, which become three
pillars of the sustainable energy strategy in China.
As the second largest energy consumer in the world, China
has a significant impact on global energy supplies. In the past
two decades, China has been enjoying a 9.7% average annual
GDP growth while limiting its annual incensement of energy
usage to only 4.6% [2]. However, driven by industrialization
and urbanization, China requires a dramatic increase of energy
supply in the coming decades. The future energy supply would
not be sustainable unless significant changes can be made in
the power production and consumption patterns. Hence, China’s
overall energy strategy is striving to shift its coal-based energy
system to a sustainable energy system.
This paper reviews the most recent policies, programs,
and activities in the field of sustainable energy development
in China. The sustainable energy strategy is addressed from
various perspectives to meet the ambitious target of sustainable
energy development. The remainder of the paper is organized
in four sections: Section II elaborates the current status and
trends of sustainable energy development in China. Section III
addresses the corresponding strategies for sustainable energy
development on the basis of the local identities of China.
Section IV expatiates on a series of sustainable energy imple-
mentations in China. Section V concludes with the future work.
II. CURRENT STATUS AND TRENDS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA
The installed generation capacities of coal, hydro, nuclear,
and wind power generation from 2005 to 2008 are tabulated in
Table I. The total installed power generation capacity in China
was 517.18 GW in 2005, 622 GW in 2006, 713.29 GW in 2007,
and 792.53 GW in 2008 [3], and it will reach about 1600 GW
by 2020. Note that coal has been playing a dominant role in
the energy mix in China, which is around 75% of the total in-
stalled capacity [3]. As can be foreseen, the required coal de-
pletion would be unbearable considering the substantial growth
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TABLE I
INSTALLED POWER GENERATING CAPACITY (2005–2008) IN CHINA
of total installed power generation capacity based on the cur-
rent energy mix. Therefore, effective changes of energy struc-
ture must be made in the future so as to promote China’s sus-
tainable development.
A. Renewable Energy
Renewable energy resources include water, biomass, wind,
solar energy, geothermal, and ocean-based energy such as tidal
and wave energy. In order to promote the development of re-
newable energy, China has promulgated a “Renewable Energy
Law” that came into effect in 2006. This law prescribes that
the medium and long-term quantitative targets for renewable
energy supply should be established at national and provincial
levels, i.e., renewable energy should contribute 10% of the total
primary energy by 2010, and 15% by 2020 [5]. Local govern-
ments have developed their own programs and targets to boost
the share of renewable energy supply. Currently wind power en-
joys a grid feed-in tariff 60% higher than coal-fueled power gen-
eration [5].
So far China has made remarkable progress in the develop-
ment and utilization of renewable energy resources. Large-scale
renewable energy such as hydro, wind, nuclear, and biomass
power generations have already been put into service. The large-
scale desert solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is under
construction. But as for the other renewable power generation
such as geothermal, tidal, and wave energy, further research is
required in order to tackle those technical obstacles.
1) Hydro: China possesses the biggest hydro power re-
sources in the world. The theoretical potential of hydro energy
in China is 676 GW, of which 493 GW is technologically
exploitable, of which 378 GW is ecologically and nominally
exploitable [6]. In 2008, the installed hydro power generation
capacity was 172 GW [7], of which 51 GW comes from small
hydro plants. Now more than 170 GW of hydro power is being
produced, of which 51 GW comes from small hydro plants.
By 2010, 190 GW of hydro power generation is planned to be
installed. By 2020, 300 GW of hydro power is to be exploited,
and a long-term target could be 430 GW by 2030 [5], [7].
China has overcome much economic and technical restric-
tions during the large and rapid development of hydro power in
the past several decades. Currently, the ecological and immigra-
tion impacts become the major concerns in China’s sustainable
development. Hence, it indicates that the future development of
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VOL. 1, NO. 2, JULY 2010
hydro power generation must be implemented in an ecological
and environmentally friendly pattern.
2) Wind: China has sufficient wind energy. The latest two
surveys have showed different results. The exploitable wind re-
serve stands separately at 3226 and 4350 GW and technologi-
cally exploitable wind reserve reaches 253 and 297 GW, respec-
tively [8].
In recent years, China has witnessed a rapid growth in
the wind power generation industry. In 2007, the installed
wind power generation capacity was 4.2 GW, and it generated
5700 GWh [9]. In 2008, approximately 8.94 GW was installed,
and it generated 12 800 GWh [10]. According to the statistical
data from China Electricity Council, the installed wind power
generating capacity reaches 16.13 GW by the end of 2009.
China will have the largest wind power generation in the world
in the near future, with a potential capacity of several hundreds
GW in the long run [5].
However, the development of wind power generation has
encountered several bottlenecks. The energy mix would be
changed when large-scale wind power generation is integrated
with the existing power grid. Especially during the valley load
period, the output capacity of wind power generation shall be
restricted. So the technology of wind power system forecasting
needs to be adopted to support the dispatching operation
system. The technical standards and the scientific management
systems are required as well. The aforementioned feed-in tariffs
of wind power need to be well regulated and implemented.
3) Biomass: Biomass resources include crop residues, fire
wood, and various kinds of organic wastes. By 2006, 60 million
tons of biomass had been used for power generation in China
[11]. In rural areas, biogas is one of the widely used renewable
energy being subsidized by the government. Family biogas fa-
cilities provide 10 billion m of gaseous fuel for about 2400
farming families [5]. According to the “Medium and Long-Term
Development Plan for Renewable Energy” issued by the govern-
ment in 2007, biomass power generation will reach 5.5 GW by
2010 and 30 GW by 2020, respectively [12].
However, since biomass is a highly distributed resource, the
development of biomass power generation is largely constrained
by its geographic distribution. So biomass power generation is
hardly to be developed on a large scale. In addition, the gener-
ation cost is relatively high for the time being. Therefore, eco-
nomic costs should be taken into account when the Chinese gov-
ernment is developing policies. Otherwise, it could waste a lot
of manpower and materials, etc.
4) Solar: Solar energy is currently mainly used in solar water
heaters, solar stoves, and passive solar houses, etc. Solar power
generation technologies are developing quickly in China, in-
cluding PV power generation. China has over 400 PV com-
panies and produces approximately 18% of the PV products
worldwide [13].
Solar power technology and products have been used in many
public buildings and facilities. The Olympic Village is one of the
best-known examples. Those buildings in the village were built
with solar-powered lighting, solar heating, solar hot water, and
solar thermoelectric cogeneration [5]. In addition, a few solar
power pilot stations have been put into service. Currently, the
YANG et al.: COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY STRATEGY
large-scale desert solar PV power generation is under construc-
tion; the rooftop PV program is in progress as well.
However, the amount of electricity generated with solar
power within China is so far comparatively small. According
to the plans unveiled by the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) in 2007, China’s installed solar power
capacity was originally planned to be 1.8 GW by 2020.
5) Others: There are abundant ocean energy resources in
China. The reserve of tidal energy in China is 110 GW, of which
the technologically exploitable generating capacity is 21.79 GW
[14]. Some tidal and wave power stations have been built for
experimental purposes. Currently, there are eight tidal power
stations in service in China [14], [15].
Recently, China has made a significant development on
geothermal power generation. For instance, a geothermal
power plant with more than 30-MW unit can be constructed in-
dependently. However, at present there are three main technical
problems that hinder the development of geothermal power:
the reinjection, corrosion, and scaling of the geothermal field
[16], [17].
To sum up, the wide utilization of renewable energy resources
requires further technological development and cost reductions
in China.
B. Nuclear Energy
China began the move to build nuclear power in 1970, and
now the industry has moved to a rapid development phase.
Nuclear generating capacity has increased nearly two-fold from
3 GW in 2000 to 9.1 GW in 2008 [3]. So far there are 11 nu-
clear power reactors in commercial operation, nearly 20 under
construction, and more about to start construction soon. Ac-
cording to the “Medium and Long-term Plan for Nuclear Power
(2005–2020)” approved by the State Council, the development
strategies of nuclear power have changed from “appropriate
development” to “positive development” [18]. The Chinese
government had planned to increase nuclear generating ca-
pacity to 40 GW by 2020. In May 2007, the NDRC announced
that its target for nuclear generation capacity in 2030 would
be 160 GW. In March 2008, the newly formed State Energy
Bureau (SEB) said that the target for 2020 should be at least 5%
of electricity from nuclear power, requiring at least 50 GW to be
in operation by then. In June 2008, the China Electrical Council
projected 60 GW of nuclear capacity by 2020. In July 2009, the
State Council was reported to be considering raising the 2020
target to 86 GW installed and 18 GW under construction [19].
The continuous increased nuclear capacity target indicates that
China is actively promoting nuclear power generation.
Furthermore, China is paving a way to become self-sufficient
in reactor design, construction, and other parts of the fuel cycle
so as to form a more complete nuclear power industry.
C. Energy Efficiency (EE)
Moving towards energy sustainability not only requires the
development of renewable energy and nuclear energy, but also
the increase of EE, which slows down energy demand growth
and raises clean energy supplies that can greatly cut down the
usage of fossil fuel. Without the improvement of EE, sustainable
59
energy development will chase a receding target due to rapid
growth of energy demand [20].
So far, China has made tremendous progress to improve EE.
EE was 33.4% in 2000 and 36.2% in 2007, respectively [21].
However, it is still 8% lower than the average of the developed
countries [22], [23]. Energy intensity is a measure of the EE of a
nation’s economy. It is calculated as units of energy per unit of
GDP. The industry plays a major role in the Chinese economy.
It contributed 45.9% of GDP, consumed 70% of energy, and
emitted 60.9% of carbon dioxide in 2004 [24]. Currently, EE in
China is mainly improved by limiting obsolete techniques and
shutting down inefficient small-scaled companies by adminis-
trative means. For instance, 54.07 GW of small-scale thermal
power units had been shut down by June 2009 [25].
The medium and long-term special plan for energy conserva-
tion was approved in November 2004. The Chinese government
has set specific targets to reduce energy intensities for various
sectors by 2020. In industrial sectors, China has an estimated
potential to save 150–200 million tons of standard coal equiva-
lent (tce) by 2020 with the use of energy-saving technologies. In
transportation sectors, the saving potential for oil is 70 million
tons by 2020 with the use of oil-saving technologies. New tech-
nologies for high-efficient automobiles and new standards on
automobile fuel-efficiency are under development. In the con-
struction sectors, the energy-saving potential is about 160 mil-
lion tce by 2020 with innovative technologies, the use of new
building materials, energy-saving technologies, and the adop-
tion of EE standards for buildings [26].
D. Trends
As tabulated in Table I, the coal-fired generating capacity
is 601.32 GW in 2008. According to International Energy
Outlook 2009, the installed coal-fired generating capacity in
China by 2020 is projected to be 668 GW [27]. China has
been trying to cut its reliance on coal. The Chinese government
has been drafting the “New Energy Industry Stimulation and
Development Plan” [28]. As it has been shown recently, a
more ambitious target has been set down. The total generation
capacity from renewable energy resources will reach 15% (35%
including hydro power), and the installed solar power gener-
ating capacity will reach 2 GW in 2011 and 20 GW in 2020,
respectively; the installed nuclear power generation capacity
will reach 12 GW in 2011 and 86 GW in 2020; the installed
wind power generating capacity will reach 35 GW in 2011
and 150 GW in 2020. Note that compared with the 2007 plan,
the generating capacity of nuclear energy is doubled and the
generating capacity of solar energy increases 9 times in 2020
[28]. Fig. 1 illustrates the overall targets of sustainable energy
development in 2020 compared with the installed generating
capacity in 2008. Compared to coal-fired power generation,
sustainable energy power generation has been greatly enhanced.
It indicates that the target of sustainable energy development
has been moved up to an unprecedented height.
Due to the discussion on the current status and trends of sus-
tainable energy development, the corresponding sustainable en-
ergy strategies are brought forward with taking account of the
local identities of China in Section III.
60
Fig. 1. Trends of sustainable energy development in 2020.
III. STRATEGIES OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN CHINA
In order to meet the ambitious targets in the future, China is
pursuing appropriate energy strategies and policies to promote
sustainable development. The energy development strategies
are mainly in the field of EE, clean coal technologies (CCTs),
nuclear energy, renewable energy, energy security, as well as
power-grid reinforcement.
A. Enhance Energy Saving and Conservation and Improve
Energy Efficiency (EE)
Generally, the energy development plan in the developed
countries can be divided into four periods. The first one is
energy saving; the second one is energy conservation; the third
one is EE; the fourth period is energy planning to tackle the
challenges of the global climate change [21]. Note that energy
conservation is the practice of decreasing the quantity of energy
used through efficient energy use. Energy conservation may
adopt the measures that are technologically feasible, financially
reasonable, and environmentally friendly. From this point of
view, energy conservation and EE are essentially aimed to
achieve the same target.
Based on the experiences from the developed countries and
considering the local identities of China, the most immediate
and cost-effective way is to enhance energy saving and energy
conservation and improve EE so as to reduce oil dependence
and environmental impact. In particular, the improved EE could
make increased reliance on renewable energy resources more
practical and affordable by reducing the total energy demand.
Currently, China’s energy consumption per unit of output
value is two or three times more than that of the average
world level; the end-use EE in China is 10% lower than that
of industrialized countries [2]. EE policies in China have
experienced the changes from a centrally planned economy to
a more market-oriented economy. Many policies have been
implemented with providing a legal framework and technology
development guidelines to the activities of EE improvement
in industry. However, with the shift towards a market-oriented
economy, the existing policies of energy conservation and EE
are becoming obsolete. There is an urgent requirement for new
policies. Therefore, how to build a favorable market to enhance
energy saving, energy conservation, and to promote EE remains
an issue for further work.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VOL. 1, NO. 2, JULY 2010
B. Develop Clean Coal Technologies (CCTs)
Coal plays a dominant role in the primary energy mix in
China. CCTs are of importance in the field of sustainable en-
ergy development to promote low-carbon economy. At present,
China is introducing and adopting the CCTs to address air pol-
lution and promote efficient energy use, thus it can reduce the
requirements of energy capacity. Integrated gasification com-
bined cycle (IGCC) and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
are state-of-the-art CCTs.
1) IGCC: An IGCC is a system that combines coal gasifica-
tion and combined-cycle power generation technologies. IGCC
is the key of the future advanced coal-based poly-generation
system. Integration of IGCC and the coal chemical industry as
well as poly-generation of fuel or chemicals such as methanol
will be the mainstream of future energy development.
IGCC technology has substantial potential to improve the ef-
ficiency of coal power generation and to reduce the harmful en-
vironmental impacts. IGCC is an important basis for near-zero
emission of coal power generation. One of the main beneficial
features of IGCC is that the gasified coal is purified of sulfur
and particulate pollutants before it is burned in the turbine, and
the other feature is that the residual heat in the hot exhaust gas
is further utilized in a heat recovery steam generator to pro-
duce additional electricity and thereby increase the thermal ef-
ficiency. The most striking difference between an IGCC and a
pulverized coal (PC) power plant is the higher efficiency poten-
tial of the former. Net efficiency for IGCC in existing plants is
around 40%–43%. Recent gas turbines would enable this to be
improved, and future development should take efficiencies be-
yond 50% [29].
Moreover, the reliability of the IGCC power plant must be en-
hanced continuously. On the one hand, more attention must be
paid to the R&D of self-owned intellectual property when de-
veloping a pilot plant. The first project of IGCC power plant in
China using its self-proprietary technology has been launched.
The installation of the first set of the 250-MW generation unit
will be completed by 2011 [30]. On the other hand, the interna-
tional cooperation is also necessary in order to promote IGCC
power generation development.
However, the cost and the potential risk of IGCC are high for
China, and the potential benefits are also high due to China’s
huge requirements of power generating capacity and heavy re-
liance on coal. Therefore, preferential polices from the govern-
ment are required to promote the development of IGCC power
generation and poly-generation.
2) CCS: CCS is one of the critical solutions for China’s
low-carbon future. However, CCS requires relatively high cost.
At present, CCS in China is still in its infancy. China’s confi-
dence depends on its successful demonstration in major leading
countries and players worldwide in the field of CCS. CCS-en-
abling technologies need to be identified. On the other hand, a
parallel and coordinated strategy between CCS and its enabling
technologies should be developed.
To sum up, China must pay great attention to support the
R&D of CCTs, which should not be neglected in sustainable
energy development since China still heavily relies on coal con-
tinuously [31].
YANG et al.: COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY STRATEGY
C. Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development With Innovative
Technologies
Since most coal fields are located in the northern or north-
western China, it brings an enormous logistic problem that
nearly half of China’s rail capacity is used for coal transporta-
tion. Moreover, the large demand centers are in the central and
eastern coastal areas. Generally nuclear power plants can be
built close to demand centers, whereas suitable wind and hydro
sites are remote from demand. For the time being, nuclear
energy is the only energy resource to replace fossil energy on
a large scale. On all accounts, China must accelerate nuclear
energy development with innovative technologies in order to
reduce the heavy reliance on the conventional coal-fired power
generation.
Note that the third-generation pressurized-water-reactor tech-
nology needs to be further developed before it is adopted as
the primary reactor technology in the near and medium terms.
Moreover, the research and development of the fourth-genera-
tion nuclear-reactor, which aims at high safety and economics,
and minimization of nuclear waste, needs to be moved forward.
In addition, more support is required for the research of the nu-
clear fusion technologies.
D. Promote Renewable Energy Usage and Develop
Preferential Policies and Scientific Management System
During the transition when China shifts the reliance on fossil
fuels to renewable energy, the great efforts made on the three
aforementioned strategies are types of essential solutions until
renewable energy can be largely used. In addition to those three,
the promotion of renewable energy is another important solution
to implement China’s sustainable development strategy. Cur-
rently, wind, solar, and biomass energy are the main focuses
in China. In order to appropriately develop renewable energy
based on the local identities of China, four policies are put for-
ward as follows.
1) In order to synthetically take account of resource, environ-
ment, and economy, the Chinese government must complete an
energy pricing mechanism and energy taxation policy to sup-
port the development of the renewable energy industry; and the
electricity pricing mechanism and price-sharing mechanism of
sustainable energy need to be completed as well. Furthermore,
the preferential tariff policy to the new energy enterprises must
be fulfilled well.
There are many problems regarding the energy pricing mech-
anism in China. First, the price of coal in China is over two times
compared with that in 2003, but the tariffs are regulated by the
government, which cannot reflect the actual changes in the elec-
tricity market as well as its upstream and downstream markets,
although China’s central government started a new round of en-
ergy pricing reform at the end of 2005. The conflicts between
the coal industry and the power industry still exist. On the one
hand, the coal industry increased coal prices for power plants; on
the other hand, the electricity tariff is still controlled by the gov-
ernment and accepts no changes. Power plants refused the price
proposed by coal mines. In order to handle this issue, the govern-
ment decided to adjust the power tariff based on the changes in
the coal price [24]. At present, the generation cost of renewable
61
energy resources is much higher than coal-fired generation cost.
If energy prices are suddenly changed as market-oriented, it may
result in a higher proportion of the coal-fired power generation
and a lower proportion of renewable energy power generation.
For instance, since wind power generation capacity has been
rapidly improved, the feed-in tariffs of wind power need to
be redefined. According to an NDRC notice released in July
2009, the improvement of wind power tariff regulations was
announced, which had been originally defined in the NDRC’s
provisional administrative measures on pricing and cost sharing
for renewable energy power generation in 2006. These amend-
ments aim to regulate wind power prices to ensure smooth
and sustainable development of the wind power industry in
China. Benchmark feed-in tariffs for wind power in China will
be changed from a bid-based system to a regional system. In
detail, the benchmark feed-in tariffs for onshore wind power
shall be set for specific wind resource regions. In proportion to
wind resources and project development conditions, it has been
decided to split the national territory into four wind resource
regions and set benchmark prices for wind power accordingly,
which are ranging from RMB 0.51/kWh, RMB 0.54/kWh,
RMB 0.58/kWh to RMB 0.61/kWh [32]. Price authorities at all
levels are to strengthen their management over the settlement
of the wind power tariff surcharge so as to ensure the complete
implementation of the wind power tariff regulations [32]. The
implementation of the wind power cost-sharing policy has also
been settled. The portion of a wind power tariff that comes
under the benchmark price for local desulfurized coal genera-
tion shall be paid by local grid enterprises. The larger portion
will be subsidized by the renewable energy tariff surcharge
levied on all users. If the benchmark price for local desulfurized
coal generation is adjusted, the portion of the tariff paid by
local grid enterprises will also be adjusted [32].
The development of renewable energy resources shall be
given a priority in the national energy development strategy.
At the same time, the appropriate market mechanisms and
financial incentives must be adopted, such as preferential tax
policies, which can increase the national financial inputs into
the development of renewable energy resources and encourage
the participation of the local governments and end-users. Note
that energy pricing in China is still in transition from centrally
planned to market-oriented.
2) The regulations for the quota and trade system of renew-
able energy generation need to be established. NDRC and the
State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) had released
the announcement about the plan of renewable power pricing
subsidy and quota trade from Oct 2007 to Jun 2008 [33]. Power
generating enterprises should actively invest in and construct re-
newable energy power generation projects and undertake the
obligation of mandatory quota generated from renewable en-
ergy in the energy mix. Power generation quota and manage-
ment method will be formulated separately. Large power gen-
erating enterprises are encouraged to take a priority in investing
in renewable energy projects.
3) The infrastructural constructions of renewable energy need
to be accelerated. The Chinese government has paid great at-
tention to increase the infrastructural investment. By the end
of 2008, the investment in wind power infrastructure had been
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greatly increased, while the investment in thermal power infra-
structure had been dropped accordingly. In addition, it will re-
quire more construction on power-grid reinforcement in the fu-
ture in order to adapt the large-scale development of renewable
power generation. Especially transmission corridors need to be
constructed for power transmission from the large-scale wind
or desert PV power stations in the western area to the demand
centers in the central and eastern area. On the other hand, the
dispatching technology of renewable power generation needs to
be further studied. And the implementation of Smart Grid inte-
grated with distributed and renewable power generation needs
to be developed.
4) The construction of renewable energy in rural areas based
on the diverse local identities must be strengthened to protect
rural ecosystems and achieve a sustainable and coordinated de-
velopment of the rural economy and environment. Great efforts
must be made on expanding rural electrification and integrated
energy development at the county level.
The rural energy services need to be promoted to support
growth and equity by focusing on meeting people’s cooking,
heating, and electrical household and productive needs through
the development of renewable energy options [2]. In rural areas,
biogas is one of the renewable energy technologies being sub-
sidized by the government recently. And it has more potential
to develop straw-fired power generation considering the quan-
tities of the key crop stalks. Based on the diverse local condi-
tions, the Chinese government must find an appropriate way to
develop renewable energy in the rural areas so as not to harm
rural ecosystems [34].
In conclusion, the expansion of renewable energy depends
upon further technology improvement to achieve higher effi-
ciency at lower cost.
E. Ensure Oil Security Based on Innovative Technologies
Great attention must be paid to achieve innovations in theories
and technologies for the exploration of oil and natural gas, and
more support must be made on R&D of the oil and natural gas
recovery technologies. Alternative fuels and coal-liquefaction
technologies and hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies must be
further developed. Hydrogen is a clean energy-carrier and a fun-
damental measure to reduce China’s reliance on oil and carbon
dioxide emission. The R&D of highly efficient, low-cost hy-
drogen production and storage technologies needs to be moved
forward. Furthermore, more R&D must be performed on the
core technologies of hydrogen fuel cells for both automobile and
stationary uses and their integration technologies. Fuel cell tech-
nology in the transportation sector will be commercially used by
2020. In addition, a safeguard system needs to be established for
oil supply that includes strategic reserve, back-up production ca-
pacity, alternative energy, and warning mechanisms, etc.
F. Reinforce Power Transmission and Distribution Systems
With High Reliability
Since 2004, electricity consumption in China has been
growing at an unprecedented rate due to the rapid growth of in-
dustrial sectors. Thus China has aggressively invested in power
supply. In addition to generation capacity increase, China has
also focused on transmission and distribution (T&D) capacity
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VOL. 1, NO. 2, JULY 2010
expansion and loss reduction by uplifting transmission voltage
and installing a high efficiency distribution transformer [35].
Especially, China’s energy resources, such as coal, wind, and
solar, are mostly distributed in the western and northern region,
80% of hydropower resources are located in the western region,
but more than 75% of the energy demand is concentrated in the
eastern and central regions. Thus the unbalanced distribution of
resources and demands requires long-distance interconnections
between the grid to the remote large-scale wind farms and solar
power plants through ultrahigh voltage (UHV) or extra-high
voltage (EHV) technologies [36], [37]. In China, the UHV and
EHV power grid is the backbone network to build the smart grid.
Subsequently, the Chinese government approved a number of
pioneering transmission projects using UHV alternating current
[(UHVAC) refers to 1000 KV] and ultrahigh voltage direct cur-
rent [(UHVDC) refers to 800 KV] technologies [35]. Recently
the State Grid Corporation of China released their version and
associated roadmap of Strong and Smart Grid. State Grid is in-
creasing capital expenditure on its UHV projects. The develop-
ment of Smart Grid is viewed as a national energy strategy in
China.
However, the large-scale use of wind power, solar power, and
other intermittent energy has a severe impact on power system
operation. For instance, as total wind power generation capacity
increases, its impacts on the power system cannot be ignored.
A few large wind farms can cause more severe problems than
several smaller wind farms, so it requires the forecasting tech-
nology of intermittent wind energy and the reinforcement on the
construction of transmission and distribution system with high
reliability. On the other hand, Grid Codes are needed to address
the technical requirements on generators, which can provide the
functions that allow the system to work properly. But the slow
development of grid codes is an impediment to the rapid growth
of renewable power generation.
In order to implement those sustainable energy strate-
gies, many sustainable energy projects have been launched
or planned in China, which are expounded in the following
section.
IV. IMPLEMENTATIONS
So far China has made considerable achievements and plans
on the implementation of sustainable energy development. Es-
pecially large-scale wind power plants, solar power plants, and
nuclear power plants are encouraged to be developed actively.
In this section, the major implementations are introduced.
A. Large-Scale Wind Farm Bases
China’s wind resources are mainly distributed in two major
wind belts: one is the “Three-North” areas, which are the north-
eastern, northern, and northwestern China; and the other is in
the eastern coastal land, islands, and coastal waters. In addition,
there are still some local inland wind energy resource-rich areas
[38].
1) Onshore Wind Farms: “Three-North” regions with
abundant wind energy includes three northeast provinces and
Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Xinjiang, and
other provinces, autonomous regions. The wind energy in flat
terrain is accessible, which is conducive to the development of
YANG et al.: COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY STRATEGY
Fig. 2. Distribution of wind energy resource in China.
the large-scale wind farms. By 2020, China is aiming to build
“three gorges of wind power” that is a huge wind farm with an
energy capacity similar to the gigantic “Three Gorges Dam”
[38].
2) Offshore Wind Farms: The eastern and southeast coastal
areas of China and islands nearby are regions with abundant
wind energy resources in which the available wind energy re-
source is several times of that on land.
Offshore wind farm power systems consist of four key ele-
ments: interturbine cables, offshore substation (if necessary),
transmission cables to shore, onshore substation, and onshore
cables. Some research institutions and wind power equipment
manufacturers have completely developed the relevant tech-
nologies of offshore wind power generation with the great
support from the government. Large electric power companies
have also been carrying out “sea enclosure” planning in coastal
zones. Many domestic-funded enterprises have started the
research on the complete machine development for offshore
wind power.
Many pilot offshore wind power projects are planned. As
demonstrated in Fig. 2, the pilot projects of intertidal zone
offshore wind power generation will be developed in Jiangsu
province, Shanghai, and the coastal area of Shandong province.
In addition, the projects of medium to deep water offshore
wind power generation will be launched in Fujian, Zhejiang,
Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu provinces, and Shanghai.
B. Solar Power Generation Projects
China has abundant solar energy as well. The distribution of
China’s solar energy resources is illustrated in Fig. 3. The areas
on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau receive the largest amounts of
solar radiation. The solar energy resource-rich areas include
Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, the southern part of Inner Mongolia,
Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning, western Jilin, the middle
and southwest parts of Yunnan, the southeastern part of Guang-
dong, the southeastern parts of Fujian, the eastern and western
parts of Hainan, and the southwest part of Taiwan. In southern
63
Fig. 3. Distribution of solar energy resource in China.
China, solar energy resources are normal, but the area IV around
Chongqing has much less solar energy resources.
The application of solar PV power generation can be divided
into three patterns: The first is to provide electricity for small,
independent, dispersed off-grid power supply, typically a few
kilowatts of capacity. As for the second pattern, in the near resi-
dential areas in cities it can establish a small-scale system com-
bining with the construction and the use of the buildings where
the roofs and the walls are installed with PV cells. The third pat-
tern is to build a desert-based ultra-large-scale PV base, which
has been paid great attention in China recently.
1) Large-Scale Desert Solar Power Stations: China has al-
ready started the relevant work to develop the desert-based ultra-
large-scale PV power generation bases. China’s first grid-con-
nected solar power station built in a desert was put into ser-
vice in Wuwei, northwest China’s Gansu Province in December
2008. The total installed capacity is 1 MW. The operation of
the solar station is a breakthrough in the exploitation of the
solar energy in the desert region in China. A 10-MW grid-con-
nected PV power generation project is progressing well in Dun-
huang. In Feb. 2009, Hainan’s largest PV power plant is in op-
eration as well. The first amorphous silicon solar PV project
will be built in Anhui province. By all accounts, solar energy
promotion at this level can be a good strategy to study the de-
ployment of large-scale solar power stations and resolve the
operational characteristics such as scheduling and load distri-
bution issues, as well as the accumulation of construction and
operating experience. Moreover, wind, solar and hydro power
can be complementary to each other. For instance, a number of
100-MW-level wind-PV hybrid power plants and hydro-PV hy-
brid power plants will be launched in Gansu, Hebei, Inner Mon-
golia, Yunan, and other provinces.
2) Rooftop PV Program in Cities: China has paid great at-
tention to the research and development of solar PV building.
China’s largest rooftop PV power generation project, a 2-MW
rooftop PV power plant, located in the Hangzhou Energy and
Environmental Industries Zone, was recently put into opera-
tion. The plant has an expected annual generation capacity of
up to 2 GWh. Compared to a thermal power plant with the same
amount of power, the rooftop PV power plant can save over
64
700 tons of standard coal [39]. In addition, China is planning to
launch more rooftop PV programs in the cities. Roughly 100 000
household roof PV systems will be built in the future. However,
the PV roof is very costly, so more R&D on PV technology is
required.
C. Nuclear Power Development
In China, the development of nuclear power is a national
key strategy to restructure the energy supply, to confront the
problem resulting in environmental and climate changes. At
present, many improved second-generation PWR nuclear power
plant projects are promoted. In 2009, five nuclear power plant
projects were to be performed, i.e., Sanmen (AP1000), Haiyang
(AP1000), Taishan (EPR), Qinshan phase 2 (CNP600), and
Rongcheng (HTGR) [40]. The construction of standardized
AP1000 is proposed in inland China. The first four West-
inghouse AP1000 reactors are being built in Sanmen and
Haiyang. At least eight more at four sites are firmly planned
after them, involving substantial technology transfer, and
about 30 more are proposed to follow. The AP1000 is to be
the main basis of China’s move to Generation III technology
[41], [42]. Furthermore, China has launched a national key
research project—“Large Passive Nuclear Power Plant and
High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor.” In the 12th Five-Year
Plan (2011–2015), more than 16 provinces, regions, and mu-
nicipalities have announced intentions to build nuclear power
plants. It distinctly shows that China will actively promote
nuclear power development in the coming decades.
V. CONCLUSION
Due to the rapid growth and large energy consumption, China
is faced with unique energy challenges. In order to forge a sus-
tainable development path, China’s overall energy strategy is
striving to shift its coal-based energy system to a sustainable en-
ergy system. An unprecedented effort has been made to pursue
an appropriate energy strategy in the various fields such as EE,
CCTs, nuclear energy, renewable energy, energy security, as
well as power grid reinforcement. So far China has made con-
siderable achievements that almost all the existing energy tech-
nologies are being developed or the related pilot projects and
applications have already been performed.
China will necessarily continue to rely on fossil fuels in
the coming decades, because at present renewable energy as a
whole, with the exception of hydro power, is still very small
compared with conventional forms of energy. The cost of
renewable energy is relatively high and uncompetitive with
conventional energy. For the time being, renewable energy only
can survive and develop with the aid of preferential policies
and subsidies from the government. On all accounts, China
must boost renewable energy development rapidly in the future.
At the same time, China needs to attach great importance
to enhancing energy saving and conservation, improving EE,
accelerating nuclear power development, and further promoting
CCTs.
Note that China must set a step-by-step unified national en-
ergy plan with considering grid integration of renewable en-
ergy, power system planning, as well as conventional energy
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VOL. 1, NO. 2, JULY 2010
resources, etc., and each kind of energy should have its appro-
priate developing pattern in the comprehensive energy system.
Moreover, China must attach more importance to the develop-
ment of advanced energy technologies, which will determine the
energy future of China and provide China a good opportunity to
become an innovator in the field of sustainable energy develop-
ment. Thus, China can play an important role to promote global
sustainable development by contributing its own experience and
solutions.
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Xia Yang was born in 1979. She received the
B.S. degree from the Department of Information
Science and Engineering, Northeastern University,
Shenyang, China, in 2002, and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Myong-ji
University, Yongin, Korea, in 2004 and in 2009,
respectively.
She worked as a junior consultant in UTInnova-
tion LLC in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2008. Cur-
rently, she is doing her Postdoctoral research in the
Department of Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China. Her research interests are renewable energy, Smart
Grid, plug-in electric vehicles, power system automation, and power system pro-
tection and control.
65
Yonghua Song (M’90–SM’94–F’08) was born in
January 1964. He received the B.Eng. and Ph.D.
degrees from Chengdu University of Science and
Technology, and China Electric Power Research
Institute in 1984 and 1989, respectively. In 2002,
he was awarded the D.Sc. degree from Brunel
University for his original achievements in power
system research.
He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Tsinghua Univer-
sity from June 1989 to March 1991. He then held var-
ious positions at Bristol University, Bath University,
and John Moores University from 1991 to 1996. In January 1997, he was ap-
pointed Professor of Power Systems at Brunel University where he was Pro-Vice
Chancellor for Graduate Studies from August 2004. In January 2007, he took
up a Pro-Vice Chancellorship and Professorship of Electrical Engineering at the
University of Liverpool. He returned to Tsinghua University in February 2009
as a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. In April 2009, he
was appointed Assistant President of the University and Deputy Director of the
Laboratory of Low-Carbon Energy. In June 2009, he was elected Vice-President
of Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE) and appointed Chairman
of the International Affairs Committee of the CSEE. His research areas include
Smart Grid, electricity economics, and operation and control of power systems.
In 2004, Dr. Song was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
(U.K.).
Guanghui Wang was born in 1968. He received
the B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China,
in 1991, and the MPA degree from School of Public
Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, in
2005.
He has worked in 11 different departments with
18 years of experience in both Northeast China
Grid Company Limited and China Electric Power
Research Institute. Currently, he is Vice President
in State Grid Information & Telecommunication
Corporation, LTD. And he is working on energy planning and Smart Grid
implementation. His research interests are energy planning, renewable energy,
and Smart Grid.
Weisheng Wang (M’09) was born in 1968. He
received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical
engineering from Xi’an University of Technology,
and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
Xi’an Jiaotong University, in July 1990, July 1993,
and Dec. 1996, respectively.
He finished his postdoctoral research in the Depart-
ment of Computer Application, China Electric Power
Research Institute (CEPRI) in 1999 and worked in
the Graduate School of CEPRI from 1999 to 2006.
Currently, he is a Professor and the Director of the
Renewable Energy Department, CERPI. His research interests are wind power
generation and power system analysis and computation.
Dr. Wang is a senior member of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engi-
neering (CSEE), member of the Committee of Electrical Engineering Theory
of CSEE, and member of the Wind Power Generation Standard Committee of
China.