China has revealed plans to invest 2.5 trillion yuan ($363 billion) in renewable energy by 2020.
The National Energy Administration (NEA) of China, the country’s energy agency, has today, January 5, 2017, released a 5-year plan to develop the country’s energy sector from 2016 to 2020.
Out of 2.5 trillion yuan set aside for renewables, solar power has been allocated the largest amount of 1 trillion yuan, followed by 700 billion yuan for wind farms, 500 billion to hydro power, while tidal and geothermal sources will split the rest, Reuters reports .
China expects the investment will help meet its goal of 15% renewable energy generation by 2020 and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.4 billion tons.
The investment is expected to create around 13 million jobs in the renewable energy sector, according to Reuters which cited NEA’s estimates.
China has more than 18.000 km of mainland coastline and more than 14.000 km of island coastline, with abundant resources of tidal power estimated to have the capacity of 3.5GW, according to the China Ocean Energy Resources Division.