Zhangjiakou, China to be named as renewable energy demonstration city

China’s National Development and Reform Commission recently revealed that the country’s State Council has approved the plan of having the city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei province serve as a demonstration site for renewable energy. Shi Dinghuan, former Counselor at the State Council and currently the chairman of the China Renewable Energy Society, recently told an audience of reporters that the approval from the State Council and the successful bid for the Olympic Games jointly by Beijing and Zhangjiakou will further drive the development of the renewable energy sector in Zhangjiakou.

Located in northern China, Zhangiakou is a particularly excellent choice for such an “experiment,” owing to the richness of both the wind and solar energy resources available there. The city has also been named one of China’s key ecological conservation areas and new energy bases under the country’s planning for the region that includes the province of Hebei and the self-governed municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

The plan is predicated on the expectation that the emerging industrial cluster represented by the renewable energy sector will become the region’s new pillar for economic growth. During the timeline stretching to 2030, Zhangjiakou will host projects across the emerging industries spectrum, including new energy, big data, new materials and new energy vehicles, with the anticipation of achieving an average annual growth rate of 15 percent in added value. By 2020, emerging industries are forecast to account for approximately 15 percent of the city’s total production value, then grow to 30 percent by 2030.

Zhangjiakou aims to achieve wind power generation installation capacity of 13 GW, PV power generation installation capacity of 6 GW and high-power solar power generation installation capacity of 1 GW by 2020. If all goes according to plan, the numbers should respectively increase to 20 GW, 24 GW and 6 GW by 2030. The plan calls for the city to have a renewable energy power generation installation capacity of up to 20 GW and to generate more than 40 billion kWh of electricity using renewable resources annually by 2020, then grow to respectively reach 50 GW and 95 billion kWh by 2030.

Renewable energy will account for 30 percent of all energy consumed by 2020, and rise to 50 percent by 2030. By 2020, 55 percent of electricity consumed will be generated from renewable resources. Renewable energy will be used for all urban public transportation as well as for 40 percent of residential and 50 percent of commercial use. Forty percent of the city’s manufacturers are expected to achieve a zero-carbon emission target. By 2030, 80 percent of electricity consumed will be generated from renewable resources. Renewable energy will be the sole source of power for all urban public transport as well as all residential and commercial use. One hundred percent of the manufacturing operations would be expected to have achieved a zero carbon emission target by then.

Analysts believe that establishing Zhangjiakou as a demonstration site for renewable energy will play a positive and demonstrative role in the development of renewable energy not only in China but also around the world.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/10/zhangjiakou-china-to-be-named-as-renewable-energy-demonstration-city.html