Renewable power is set to boom in many Asian countries, according to a new report from energy experts GlobalData.
The new report states that government support for renewable generation in the Asia-Pacific is strong, due to growing energy demand, increasing concerns over global warming and the need to diversify energy sources.
Australia, Japan and New Zealand have all signed the Kyoto Protocol, while, at the Copenhagen summit, India and China pledged to reduce emissions. All countries in the region are expected to continue to invest in the renewable energy sector over the coming decades, and are using Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), soft loans, tax incentives and other measures to promote the renewable energy industry.
China has led the region’s adoption of renewable energy sources following the launch of the government’s 12th five-year plan in 2011, which announced the promotion of new energy development, incorporating specific deployment targets for renewable energy. China has begun to develop wind turbine and solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing industries, and in 2011 became the largest wind power market in the world, with a total installed capacity of 60,307 megawatts (MW), overtaking the US. The anticipated construction of six additional onshore and two coastal/offshore wind projects by 2015 will bring about 120 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower and 70 GW of wind power capacity. China also aims to develop 5 GW of solar energy projects to achieve its aim to generate 15% of its electricity through renewables by 2020.
Other Asia-Pacific countries have also taken steps to encourage renewable energy development. Thailand has announced a number of measures to boost its biomass industry, aiming to increase its share of renewables to 90% by 2020 and to develop as a regional biofuel-producing hub. The Korean government is also heavily promoting green power generation through a generous FIT for the solar PV market, which helped to achieve a total installed renewable capacity of 7,866 MW by the end of 2011.The Indian government has also launched the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission’, which aims to deploy solar energy technologies to achieve parity with the grid power tariff by 2022, therefore establishing India as a global renewables leader. The mission aims to set framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022, and increase the capacity of grid-connected solar power generation to 1,000 MW by 2013 and 3,000 MW by 2017.
In stark contrast, Japan’s renewable energy market has remained static due to the insufficient implementation of market policies, including the demand for approval of legislation in 2011 to create a national FIT scheme, which will mandate utility providers to purchase power from renewable energy sources at a rate fixed by the government.
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Offshore WIND staff, May 16, 2012