The International Energy Agency's Special Report on China in the World Energy Outlook 2017 was released in Kunming, Capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province on Thursday. China's energy mix will gradually shift to clean power generation as the country increasingly relies on renewable energy, natural gas and electricity for its growing energy needs, while coal demand has fallen back, the report said.
This is what journalists learned from the global press conference of the World Energy Outlook 2017 China Special Report and the Yunnan Green Energy Sustainable Development Seminar held in Kunming on December 12. The report, which toured cities such as Beijing and Kunming, focuses on forecasting China's energy demand and structure changes through 2040 and their impact, and was interpreted by IEA program officials.
Under the new policy scenario, China's energy demand growth would fall by about 1 per cent a year, less than a sixth of the annual average since 2000, the report said. This is a combination of economic restructuring, strong energy efficiency policies and demographic change.
China is relying more on renewable energy, natural gas and electricity for energy growth, and coal demand will fall back, the report said. Coal's share of total electricity generation is expected to fall from two-thirds in 2016 to less than 40 per cent by 2040, with electricity set to dominate China's end energy consumption.
According to the report, China's energy structure will gradually transition to the clean power generation, power deployment and powerful policy continues to reduce the cost of renewable energy, solar pv will become China the most economical way of generating, hydropower, wind power and solar photovoltaic (pv) leading the low-carbon installed capacity will be rapid growth, by 2040 will account for 60% of the total installed capacity.
By 2040, the report predicts, coal's share of the country's primary energy mix will shrink to about 45 per cent and China's demand for natural gas will increase
