Page 236 - 2020 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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0 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
control new coal production and new coal-fired to move towards carbon-negative electric power
power capacity. The authority’s pollution-cutting generation. The process of converting biomass into
efforts have eased this year by building centralized energy and then capturing and storing the waste
“clean coal” heating systems instead of converting CO2 is one of the most talked-about strategies
them from coal to natural gas or electricity. China for negative carbon power. It’s known as BECCS,
is aiming to bring its total emissions to a peak by bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The
around 2030 (Kennedy). problem is, in most applications BECCS is not very
efficient and requires massive amounts of land
China is also keen to prop up coal prices and to grow the plants needed to power the planet,
ensure a “soft landing” for a commodity responsible which would likely result in global food and water
for millions of domestic jobs in struggling industrial shortages. The addition of coal provides an energy
districts. The availability of increasingly competitive source that is really important. If you combine
and reliable renewable energy, however, has biofuel with coal and gasify the mixture, you can
led to concerns that coal investments will soon essentially develop a pure source of hydrogen in the
become unprofitable “stranded assets.” The State process. By modeling different ratios of biofuel to
Development and Investment Corporation, a central coal, researchers have found that as long as at least
government-run investment group with significant 35 percent of the mixture is biomass and the waste
holdings in the power sector, announced in 2019 carbon is captured, the power generated would
that it would no longer fund coal projects. The actually reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. At that
central bank is expected to release new guidelines ratio, the researchers found that the levelized cost
that will prevent “clean coal” projects, including of electricity would be no more than 9.2 cents per
low-emission coal-fired power plants, from issuing kilowatt hour. A carbon price of approximately $52
“green bonds (Stanway). per ton would make this system cost-competitive
with current coal-fired powerplants in China. A
Biomass Power key component to this strategy is the use of crop
residue—the remains of plants after fields have
If the world is going to limit global temperature been harvested—as biofuel. Collecting that stubble
increases to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, as and using it as biofuels would not only reduce CO2
laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement, it’s going but significantly improve air quality in the country.
to take a lot more than a transition to carbon- Gasification also allows easier removal of air
neutral energy sources such as wind and solar. pollutants from the waste stream. The researchers
It’s going to require carbon-negative technologies, acknowledge that developing a system to collect
including energy sources that actually reduce the biomass and deliver it to powerplants will
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. While take time but they argue that the system doesn’t
most climate researchers and activists agree that need to be implemented all at once. First, small
carbon-negative solutions will be needed to meet amounts of biofuel could be used to reduce the net
the terms of the Paris Agreement goal, so far most positive carbon emissions. Then, the system could
of these solutions have been viewed as impractical grow toward carbon neutrality and eventually to a
in the near term, especially for large, coal-reliant carbon-negative system” (Science X).
countries like China. One study, however, may have
found a way to make this work. China is already on China is willing to give it a try. The country’s
board as a beta location. biomass sector generated 24.5 billion kWh of
electricity during the first quarter of 2019, up
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson 16.7 percent year-on-year, data from the National
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Energy Administration showed. China added
the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy 970,000 kilowatts of biomass energy capacity
and Environment, in collaboration with colleagues during the first quarter, bringing the total installed
from Tsinghua University in Beijing and other capacity to 18.78 million kilowatts. Biomass refers
institutions in China, Australia and the US, have to biological materials or organic materials which
analyzed technical and economic viability for China are renewable and sustainable and could be used
as a fuel source. While the energy share of biomass
236
control new coal production and new coal-fired to move towards carbon-negative electric power
power capacity. The authority’s pollution-cutting generation. The process of converting biomass into
efforts have eased this year by building centralized energy and then capturing and storing the waste
“clean coal” heating systems instead of converting CO2 is one of the most talked-about strategies
them from coal to natural gas or electricity. China for negative carbon power. It’s known as BECCS,
is aiming to bring its total emissions to a peak by bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The
around 2030 (Kennedy). problem is, in most applications BECCS is not very
efficient and requires massive amounts of land
China is also keen to prop up coal prices and to grow the plants needed to power the planet,
ensure a “soft landing” for a commodity responsible which would likely result in global food and water
for millions of domestic jobs in struggling industrial shortages. The addition of coal provides an energy
districts. The availability of increasingly competitive source that is really important. If you combine
and reliable renewable energy, however, has biofuel with coal and gasify the mixture, you can
led to concerns that coal investments will soon essentially develop a pure source of hydrogen in the
become unprofitable “stranded assets.” The State process. By modeling different ratios of biofuel to
Development and Investment Corporation, a central coal, researchers have found that as long as at least
government-run investment group with significant 35 percent of the mixture is biomass and the waste
holdings in the power sector, announced in 2019 carbon is captured, the power generated would
that it would no longer fund coal projects. The actually reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. At that
central bank is expected to release new guidelines ratio, the researchers found that the levelized cost
that will prevent “clean coal” projects, including of electricity would be no more than 9.2 cents per
low-emission coal-fired power plants, from issuing kilowatt hour. A carbon price of approximately $52
“green bonds (Stanway). per ton would make this system cost-competitive
with current coal-fired powerplants in China. A
Biomass Power key component to this strategy is the use of crop
residue—the remains of plants after fields have
If the world is going to limit global temperature been harvested—as biofuel. Collecting that stubble
increases to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, as and using it as biofuels would not only reduce CO2
laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement, it’s going but significantly improve air quality in the country.
to take a lot more than a transition to carbon- Gasification also allows easier removal of air
neutral energy sources such as wind and solar. pollutants from the waste stream. The researchers
It’s going to require carbon-negative technologies, acknowledge that developing a system to collect
including energy sources that actually reduce the biomass and deliver it to powerplants will
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. While take time but they argue that the system doesn’t
most climate researchers and activists agree that need to be implemented all at once. First, small
carbon-negative solutions will be needed to meet amounts of biofuel could be used to reduce the net
the terms of the Paris Agreement goal, so far most positive carbon emissions. Then, the system could
of these solutions have been viewed as impractical grow toward carbon neutrality and eventually to a
in the near term, especially for large, coal-reliant carbon-negative system” (Science X).
countries like China. One study, however, may have
found a way to make this work. China is already on China is willing to give it a try. The country’s
board as a beta location. biomass sector generated 24.5 billion kWh of
electricity during the first quarter of 2019, up
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson 16.7 percent year-on-year, data from the National
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Energy Administration showed. China added
the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy 970,000 kilowatts of biomass energy capacity
and Environment, in collaboration with colleagues during the first quarter, bringing the total installed
from Tsinghua University in Beijing and other capacity to 18.78 million kilowatts. Biomass refers
institutions in China, Australia and the US, have to biological materials or organic materials which
analyzed technical and economic viability for China are renewable and sustainable and could be used
as a fuel source. While the energy share of biomass
236
