If state leaders were to be given a magic wand to eradicate the nation's pollution and energy shortage problems overnight, they could well go for instant widespread commercialisation of solar energy.
The country is blessed with abundant solar resources that could supply a virtually inexhaustible and free fuel with zero pollution. That is, if they can be made commercially viable.
Two-thirds of the nation's land mass enjoys over 2,200 hours of sunshine annually, comparable to the United States and much ahead of Japan and Europe. Sunlight is especially abundant in the nation's northern regions.
According to the China Academy of Sciences, the country's theoretical annual solar energy resource is equivalent to 1.7 trillion tonnes of standard coal, 630 times the government's 2010 national energy consumption target of 2.7 billion tonnes.
Analysts have hailed solar power as potentially the biggest fuel source for electricity generation in 50 years, given increasing pressure to develop clean energy. Wind, hydro and biomass power development is subject to resource constraints while nuclear power brings security concerns.
However, other than its global leadership in solar water heating, the country is still at the starting point in harnessing the sun's energy in electricity generation, by far the bigger way potentially to exploit solar power.
The mainland is the world's largest consumer and producer of solar water heaters, with 15 million square metres of annual production capacity of heat-collecting surface area at the end of 2006 and 100 million square metres in use, according to industry policy setter National Development and Reform Commission.
