Energy

China will likely achieve, and may even exceed, its target to obtain 15 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020, according to a new report by an environmental group, the Worldwatch Institute. If China's commitment to diversifying its energy supply and becoming a global leader in renewables persists, renewable energy could provide over 30 percent of the nation's energy by 2050. China is poised to become a leader in renewables manufacturing, which will have global implications for the future of the technology.

China Huaneng Group has signed a deal of 60 billion yuan (US$8 billion) with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. (CGNPC) to build four one-gigawatt pressurized water reactors in coastal Shandong province. A 200-megawatt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor will start up by 2013 at the same Shidaowan site, the firm's first nuclear power plant. If this is a success, the company plans to install more of the reactors, which it says were developed entirely by Chinese scientists. They will reach a total capacity of up to 3.8 gigawatts.

Many filling stations across China are experiencing shortages, with refineries unwilling to raise output in light of low domestic prices. Experts have said that the government should reform oil pricing to reflect international levels. PetroChina has ordered its subsidiaries to run at full capacity and exceed output targets and will buy more fuel from other local refineries, boost imports, and curb gasoline and diesel exports to ensure the domestic supply.

China's largest state oil and gas company, CNPC, and Russian gas giant, Gazprom, have reached a consensus on the pricing of natural gas to be piped from Russia to China. Russia will pipe 68 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China each year by 2020, according to Russian energy chief Viktor Khristenko. The negotiations on Russian gas prices "would not be influenced by China's low natural gas import prices," said the chairman, declining to elaborate.

China will import 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually by 2010 as domestic demand soars with more LNG projects beginning operation. The Fujian project will receive 2.6 million tons of LNG annually from 2009 from Indonesia's Tangguh gas field, while the Shanghai project is expected to take in three million tons a year from Malaysia from 2012. The country imported 680,000 tons of LNG last year after the first LNG project was initiated in south China's city Shenzhen.