Non-fossil energy rises in the mix

Non-fossil fuels accounted for 11.1 percent of China's primary energy use in 2014, up from 9.8 percent last year, as the world's second-largest economy cut emissions to fight climate change, a senior official said on Thursday.

Non-fossil fuel refers to solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy.

The share of non-fossil fuel will rise to 15 percent in the primary energy mix by 2020, according to a national plan released in 2009.

Wu Xinxiong, head of the National Energy Administration, told a national energy conference in Beijing that China will implement measures to further reform its fuel and power consumption structure and establish a secure, stable and clear energy supply channel.

He said the proportion of coal fell to 64.2 percent of energy consumption this year from 65.7 percent last year.

He estimated that China has 300 gigawatts of installed hydropower capacity, 90 GW of wind and 30 GW of solar energy.

There are 22 nuclear power units operating, with total generation capacity of 20.1 GW.

The nation made breakthroughs in shale gas, coalbed methane and deep-water oil and natural gas exploration this year, Wu said.

The NEA said China produced about 1.2 billion cubic meters of shale gas and 17.1 billion cu m of coalbed methane this year.