Waste the New Wealth in China's Green Energy Sector

The recent annual meetings of China's top law makers saw many pronouncements about the country's desire to develop a low-carbon economy. One key energy source the government is keen to promote is that of biomass. CRI's Dominic Swire looks at how this form of energy is able to produce more than just hot air.

Just days ago it was announced that China's largest biomass energy producer Dragon Power has been granted a 28-billion yuan (or 4.1 billion dollar) loan from China Construction Bank to build 100 power plants in the country over the next five years.

Speaking at a recent conference on China's growing clean tech sector just days before the announcement, Simon Parker, President of Dragon Power, told CRI how the biomass industry not only generates power, but also benefits the lives of local farmers.

"We're coming into rural China and we're taking a waste product off the field and we're providing an income for that waste product."

Although the company turns biomass into energy through combustion, which releases pollutants, the technology is still considered clean because the process of growing new crops absorbs Co2 emissions.

While biomass in China currently only produces around 1 GW of energy per year, Simon Parker says there is potential to up this figure to 50 GW with the right investment. By comparison a nuclear power plant usually produces between 1 – 5 GW of power.

But the director of Dragon Power says biomass is not just about generating energy. He says these power plants can also help stimulate local economies in rural areas.

"It's not purely about generating clean power it's also providing a very different social value as well in terms of redistributing income. So we get paid from the government subsidy from fuel and from selling our electricity and anywhere from 50-60% of everything we receive goes straight back to rural china. There's no other renewable energy industry that's actually putting so much back into the communities in which they're based.

China aims to increase its current use of non-fossil renewable energy from the current 9.9 percent to about 15 percent by 2020. Promoting the use of biomass will be a key part of this plan – and in the process, hopefully, local economies in rural China will also benefit.

Dominic Swire, CRI news.