Blueprint for renewable share of power to be 10pc by 2010
China is to launch a range of policies to spur growth of the nascent bio-energy sector, as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on imported crude oil and cut pollution.
They include project subsidies when crude oil prices are low, subsidy on land-use rights for resource extraction, grants for pilot projects and preferential taxation policies.
The initiatives, drawn up by the Ministry of Finance with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Administration of Taxation and the State Forestry Administration, were indicated on the finance ministry website. No implementation details were given.
Bio-energy, which includes bio-diesel, ethanol and biomass power generation, is considered relatively clean to burn and uses mostly plant material or crops as feedstock.
The government wants to boost renewable energy's share of the country's generated power, excluding large hydro projects, to 10 per cent by 2010 and 16 per cent by 2020, from 6 per cent this year.
Foreign firms are investing, with Austria's Biolux this month starting construction of a Euro120 million (HK$1.19 billion) plant in Nantong, Jiangsu province, capable of producing 265,000 tonnes of bio-diesel a year from rapeseed.
