As black goes out of fashion, green is in(2)

By Lyu Chang

China is now the world's biggest investor in renewable energy. It has spent a total of $56.3 billion on wind, solar and other renewable projects and was ranked No 1 in renewable energy investment in 2013, a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century says.
Shenhua's present aim is to generate at least 6 percent of its total power using renewable energies such as wind and solar power, and more than 290 research fellows at the National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy are looking at ways to capture emitted carbon dioxide and store it for future use.
Last year Shenhua installed electricity generation of about 110 mW of wind power, but solar power accounts for a small part of total generation, leaving a lot of scope for the photovoltaic power sector to grow, Chen says.
"Solar technology is making great strides, and commercialization will soon be a reality."
Chen's laboratory is now studying an advanced technology of thin film solar panels in which the patent nanostructured materials are used to improve efficiency by more than 10 percent and reduce module costs as well.
"Compared with traditional silicon-wafer-based solar panels, this type of solar panel has a better low-light performance and a higher annual power yield, so using it can increase return on investment."
Apart from developing cleaner energy, Shenhua has been conducting pilot programs on carbon capture utilization and storage, through which carbon dioxide can be prevented from entering the atmosphere.
More precisely, workers have to heat, pressurize and process coal into diesel and other kinds of fuels, leaving liquid carbon dioxide as a byproduct, which is then transferred elsewhere then pumped into a well, where it is stored.
Other energy companies such as the state-owned utility company Huaneng are also developing technologies on capturing carbon for coal-fired power plants.
Huaneng signed an agreement last year with the US company Duke Energy Corp for a study to determine the feasibility of applying Huaneng's carbon capture process at Duke Energy's coal-fired power plant in Indiana, said a report by Environment & Energy Publishing, a daily online publication of energy policy and markets.
Huang Qing, Shenhua Group's board secretary, said during an energy innovation forum in 2013 that there are no very effective ways to deal with large carbon emissions.
Carbon dioxide is a key to the photosynthesis of plants, he says, and if technologies are eventually invented it will be a valuable resource for the world.
At the same time, energy experts say China should consider raising natural gas imports by pipeline and using liquefied natural gas to replace some coal, as they are traditional fossil fuels that emit less carbon dioxide.
Lu Jianzhong, deputy director of the Research Institute of Economy and Technology, part of the China National Petroleum Corp, says natural gas will be the fossil fuel whose use grows the most in the country over the next 20 years.
"We can expect more international collaboration, and we need to give private capital more access to the sector."
Though coal is considered one of the main causes of the polluted air that plagues many Chinese cities, it remains the country's dominant energy source.
Last year China used about 3.7 billion metric tons of coal, which accounted for 66 percent of the country's energy demand.
Since last year Beijing has shut down three big coal-fired power plants in the city in a move to reduce air pollution, the municipal commission for development and reform says.
All other coal-burning power plants in the city are being phased out, and the aim is for all to have been shut down by the end of next year. Four gas-fired power plants are now being built, and they are expected to help reduce coal use by 9.2 million tons a year when they go into operation.