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Incentives could clean up energy use

By Wang Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-30 16:48

China needs regulations to encourage energy saving and promote clean energies to reach its goal of a sustainable economy, said Shi Zhengrong, chairman of a flagship solar company, at the sidelines of the Asia Society's corporate conference in Tianjin.

"In the next five years we can reduce the price of solar electricity to the current level of electricity produced by coal-fired plants," said Shi, chairman of Suntech Power Holdings, one of China's largest photovoltaic cell and module manufacturers.

"But its mass application will be difficult if China does not release regulations and establish appropriate mechanisms that support energy saving and the use of clean power."

The Chinese economy has registered growth of over 10 percent every year over the past decade, making China the world's second-largest power consumer in the world.

Nearly 70 percent of the nation's power is generated from coal, a notorious polluter.

Shi said the Chinese government should give more incentives or subsidies to clean power, which is currently more expensive than traditional energy.

"By 2050, about 30 percent of the autos could be fueled by solar power and the number will surge to 75 percent by the end of the century," he said. "This is the future."

China's clean technology companies grew in favor after Suntech was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Its share sale raised nearly $400 million and made Shi one of the 10-richest men in China that year.

Like many of other alternative energy companies, Suntech has been striving to increase the efficiency of its products and lower its power price to levels acceptable to consumers, which currently needs subsidies from the government.

According to experts, the recent surge in world prices for coal and oil resulted in increasing numbers of consumers turning to alternative energies.

But such phenomenon did not happen in China because energy prices are strictly controlled by the government, which fears that increasing power prices would place enormous pressure on the country's already-soaring consumer price index.

In May, Suntech announced the purchase of a stake in Shunda Holdings Co, a closely held Chinese maker of silicon wafers used in power panels, for $98.9 million.