Clean power fund proposed, along with more nuclear plants

As the hazardous levels of smog over Beijing intensified in recent days, a former head of the National Energy Administration called for more efforts in the development of renewable energy to combat air pollution.

Zhang Guobao, a former vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said on Tuesday at the International Finance Forum that while it is practical to pass power tariffs to wind-power producers, other supporting policies needed to be implemented in concert such measures.

The forum is an international nonprofit, non-governmental think tank that plans to launch China's first smog-reduction fund, the IFF Clean Air Fund.

"Before reducing prices for wind-power plants, we also need to deal with other problems such as the difficulty of grid connection and blind expansion in wind-power manufacturing capacity," he said. The problem of idle turbines needs to be avoided, he added.

At the same time, Zhang suggested building more nuclear energy plants to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

China ranks sixth worldwide in nuclear power output, but 30th in its ratio of nuclear power to overall electrical generation, near the lowest of all nuclear nations, Zhang said.

The country's nuclear power development came to a halt after the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan in March 2011. China also suspended approvals for new nuclear plants and carried out a nationwide safety review after the crisis. Approvals were cautiously resumed in October 2012.