Current status and future projections for energy production from renewable sources in the world

China could double the production of clean energy in the next five years.

Faced with the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, the effects of which could make the earthquake and subsequent tsunami the most expensive natural disaster the world has ever seen China, is considering doubling its target for solar photovoltaic power capacity over the next five years.

Citing anonymous sources today, the China Securities Journal reported that the country's solar target could be raised to 10 gigawatts (GW) of PV by 2015, compared to the current target of 5 GW. For comparison, the worldwide capacity of solar photovoltaic energy was about 40 GW in 2010.

This news comes after a report published yesterday, which noted that, in terms of clean energy investment, the UnitedStates have slipped to third place behind China and Germany

The report called "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?" Provides additional insights:

Investments in clean energy grew globally by 630 percent since 2004.

Europe remained the leading recipient of clean energy investments, attracting $ 94.4 billion, led by Germany ($ 41.2 billion) and Italy ($ 13.9 billion).

Italy is the first country in the world to achieve grid parity, or cost-competitiveness, for solar energy.

The Asia / Oceania region, led by China, continued its strong growth, attracting $ 82.8 billion, a 33 percent increase over the previous year.

Investments in small-scale, for residential solar in the G 20 has increased by 100 percent to $ 56.4 billion. Germany accounts for over half of the total, followed by Japan, France, Italy and the United States.

The installed generation capacity has increased to 388 gigawatts of wind power, small-hydro, biomass, solar, geothermal, with China alone is worth more than 25 per cent of the total.

It is worth noting that China is the world's largest exporter of solar panels, and is the home of the largest manufacturing companies such as Suntech Power, JA Solar, Trina Solar and LDK Solar. Assuming that these companies continue to maintain a substantial share of the domestic market in China, a new target of 10 GW photovoltaic solar energy would help China achieve its energy independence.

 

01/04/2011

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Translated via software

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Source:

Italian version of ReteIngegneri.it