International renewable energy development

(I) Development status In recent years, due to rising oil prices and the impact of global climate change, the development and utilization of renewable energy has increasingly attracted the attention of the international community. Many countries have set clear development goals and established laws and regulations that support the development of renewable energy. Policies have enabled the continuous improvement of renewable energy technologies and the gradual expansion of industrial scale, which has become an important energy source for promoting energy diversification and achieving sustainable development.

1. Hydroelectric power generation is currently the most mature renewable energy power generation technology and it has been widely used throughout the world. By the end of 2005, the total installed hydropower capacity in the world was about 850 million kilowatts. At present, the hydropower resources in economically developed countries have basically been developed, and hydropower construction is mainly concentrated in developing countries.

2. Biomass The development direction of modern biomass energy is the efficient and clean use of biomass, which converts biomass into high-quality energy, including electricity, gas, liquid fuels, and solid shaped fuels. Biomass power generation includes agricultural and forestry biomass power generation, waste power generation, and biogas power generation. By the end of 2005, the total installed capacity of biomass power generation in the world was approximately 50 million kilowatts, mainly in northern Europe and the United States; the annual production of biofuel ethanol was approximately 30 million tons, mainly in Brazil and the United States; and the annual output of biodiesel was approximately 2 million tons. Mainly concentrated in Germany. Biogas is a mature biomass energy utilization technology. A large number of biogas projects and scattered household biogas digesters have been constructed in Europe, China, and India.

3. Wind power Wind power includes off-grid small-scale wind turbines and large-scale grid-connected wind turbines. The technology is basically mature. In recent years, the stand-alone capacity of grid-connected wind turbines has continuously increased. In 2005, the average stand-alone capacity of newly-added wind turbines exceeded 1,000 kilowatts. Wind turbines with a stand-alone capacity of 4,000 kilowatts have been put into operation, and wind farm construction has been developed from land to sea. By the end of 2005, the installed capacity of wind power in the world had reached 60 million kilowatts, with an average annual growth rate of 30% in the last five years. With the technological advancement of wind power and the expansion of the scale of application, the cost of wind power continues to drop, and economic efficiency is very close to conventional energy sources.

4. Solar solar energy utilization includes solar photovoltaic power generation, solar thermal power generation, and solar heat and solar water heaters. Photovoltaic power generation was originally used as an independent distributed power supply. In recent years, the development speed of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation has been accelerated, and the market capacity has exceeded that of discrete-use photovoltaic power supplies that are used independently. In 2005, the world production of photovoltaic cells was 1.2 million kilowatts, and a total of 6 million kilowatts had been installed. Solar thermal power generation has undergone a relatively long period of test operation, and it can basically meet commercial operational requirements. The current total installed capacity is about 400,000 kilowatts. Solar thermal technology is mature and economical. It can be used on a large scale. In 2005, the total area of ​​solar water heaters in the world has reached approximately 140 million square meters.

5, geothermal energy Geothermal energy use includes power generation and heat utilization in two ways, the technology is more mature. By the end of 2005, the total geothermal power generation capacity in the world was about 9 million kilowatts, mainly in the United States, Iceland, Italy and other countries. Geothermal energy utilization, including the direct use of geothermal water and ground source heat pump heating and cooling, has been widely used in developed countries. The annual average growth of geothermal energy utilization in the world has been about 13% in the past five years.

6. The development and utilization of marine energy such as oceanic tidal power generation, wave power generation, and ocean current power generation have also made great progress. The initial scale of the development is mainly tidal power generation. The total installed capacity of tidal power in the world is about 300,000 kilowatts.

(II) Market Overview In 2005, the global renewable energy market grew rapidly. According to estimates, the world's large hydropower has 12 million to 14 million kilowatts of new installed capacity, and China’s new 7 million kilowatts ranks first. Brazil and India rank second and third respectively with new installed capacity of 2.4 GW and 1.3 GW. SHP newly installed 5 million kilowatts of electricity, totaling 66 million kilowatts, of which 38.5 million kilowatts were installed in China, due to the fact that China’s SHP investment has maintained a good momentum.

The growth of wind power ranks second, with a newly installed capacity of 11.5 million kilowatts, an increase of 24%, and a total installed capacity of 59 million kilowatts. More than half of the newly installed capacity is concentrated in the United States (2.4 million kilowatts), Germany (1.8 million kilowatts) and Spain (1.8 million kilowatts). India’s total installed capacity exceeds that of Denmark, ranking fourth and adding 1.4 million kilowatts of installed capacity. China’s wind power industry has grown rapidly, adding 500,000 kilowatts to the original 800,000 kilowatts. Offshore wind power installed capacity has increased by at least 180,000 kilowatts.

Large-scale and small-scale biomass power generation and heating are still growing, with an installed capacity of 2 million to 3 million kilowatts and a total capacity of 44 million kilowatts. The latest data show that in 2004, the growth rate of biomass power generation in some OECD countries was 50%-100% or more, including Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, South Korea, New Zealand and Sweden have a growth rate of 10%-30%2. There are more and more small-scale biomass power generation projects in developing countries, such as the “small power plant” project in Thailand. As of 2005, the project has already started 50 biomass power generation projects with a total installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts. Some small biogas power generation projects have also been introduced. In some countries, the sugar industry is setting up sugarcane power plants, such as the Philippines and Brazil. In addition, geothermal power continues to grow. The United States plans to add another 500,000 kilowatts of installed capacity. At the same time, 11 countries are building geothermal power plants.

Solar photovoltaic grid-connected power generation is still the fastest growing technology. From 2004 to 2005, the installed capacity of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation increased by 55%, and the cumulative installed capacity increased from 2 million kilowatts to 3.1 million kilowatts (see Table 3 and Figure 3 on page 20). Among them, Germany accounted for more than half of the newly installed capacity in the world, adding more than 600,000 kilowatts in one year. Japan and the United States increased 300,000 kilowatts and 70,000 kilowatts, ranking second and third respectively. Several landmark events occurred in 2005, such as the successful operation of the world's largest solar photovoltaic power station in Germany, with an installed capacity of 10,000 kW; commercialization of many large-scale photovoltaic power generation systems with dozens or even hundreds of kilowatts Wait. Germany’s cumulative installed capacity surpassed Japan for the first time. If you consider off-grid applications, the total installed capacity of photovoltaics in the world reached 5.4 million kilowatts in 2005, an increase of 144,000 kilowatts over 2004.

Overall, without calculating large hydropower, the total installed capacity of renewable energy in the world has risen to 128 million kilowatts (182 GW) in 2005, an increase of 22 million kilowatts from 2004 (160 million kilowatts, 160 GW) (see Table 4 on page 22). And Figure 4). The top six countries are China (42 million kilowatts), Germany (23 million kilowatts), the United States (23 million kilowatts), Spain (12 million kilowatts), India (7 million kilowatts), and Japan (6 million kilowatts). For the first time, India’s renewable energy installed capacity surpassed Japan. The installed capacity of renewable energy in developing countries has risen from 70 million kilowatts to 80 million kilowatts, with the largest increase in China (mainly small hydropower) and India (wind power), and the proportion of total installed capacity in the world as a whole in 2004. About 44%. If large hydropower is taken into account, in 2005, the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation reached 930 million kilowatts (930 GW).

(III) Development Trends With the development of the economy and the progress of society, countries around the world will pay more attention to the issue of environmental protection and global climate change, and further accelerate the development of renewable energy by formulating new energy development strategies, laws and policies.

From the current state of renewable energy resources and technological development level, in addition to hydro energy, the rapid development of renewable energy in the future is mainly biomass energy, wind energy and solar energy. Biomass energy utilization methods include power generation, gas production, heat supply and liquid fuel production, and will become the most widely used renewable energy technologies. Wind power generation technology has basically matured and the economy is close to conventional energy, and it will maintain a relatively rapid development for a long time to come. The main directions of solar energy development are photovoltaic power generation and heat utilization. The major markets for photovoltaic power generation in the near future are the grid-connected power generation in developed countries and the independent power supply in remote areas in developing countries. The development direction of solar thermal utilization is the integration of solar energy and uses conventional energy as a supplement to achieve all-weather heating and improve the reliability of solar heating. Based on this, it will further develop solar heating and cooling.

On the whole, in the past 20 years or so, most renewable energy technologies have developed rapidly, and the industrial scale, economy, and degree of marketization have been increasing year by year. It is expected that most of the renewable energy technologies will have market competitiveness between 2010 and 2020. After 2020, there will be faster development and gradually become the dominant energy source.

(IV) Development experience Over the years, countries in the world have accumulated rich experience in order to promote sustainable development, cope with global climate change, and actively promote the development of renewable energy.

1. Goal guidance In order to promote the development of renewable energy, many countries have formulated corresponding development strategies and plans and have made clear the development goals of renewable energy. In 1997, the European Union proposed that the proportion of renewable energy in primary energy consumption will increase from 6% in 1996 to 12% in 2010, and the proportion of renewable energy generation in total electricity generation increased from 14% in 1997 to 2010. 22% of the year. At the beginning of 2007, the European Union put forward a new development goal, requiring that by 2020, renewable energy consumption accounted for 20% of total energy consumption, and renewable energy power generation accounted for 30% of all electricity generation. The United States, Japan, Australia, India, and Brazil have also formulated clear renewable energy development goals to guide the development of renewable energy.

2. Policy Incentives In order to ensure the realization of renewable energy development goals, many countries have established regulations and policies to support the development of renewable energy. Germany, Denmark, France, Spain and other countries have purchased fixed renewable energy at renewable fixed energy prices. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan have implemented mandatory market quotas for renewable energy, and the United States, Brazil, and India have implemented renewable energy sources. Investment subsidies and tax incentives and other policies.

3. Industrial support In order to promote the technological progress and industrialization of renewable energy, many countries attach great importance to the training of renewable energy talents, research and development, and industrial system construction, and established special research and development institutions to support the development of renewable energy scientific research and technology development. And industrial services and other work. The developed countries not only support the research and development of renewable energy technologies, but also pay special attention to the testing, demonstration and promotion of new technologies. After years of development, the industrial system has been formed, which strongly supports the development of renewable energy.

4. Financial Support In order to accelerate the development of renewable energy, many countries provide strong financial support for the development of renewable energy and provide subsidies for technology research and development, project construction, product sales, and end-users. The U.S. Energy Act of 2005 clearly stipulates annual budget funds for supporting R&D of renewable energy technologies and their industrialization. Germany provides a 40% subsidy for users to install solar water heaters. Many countries have also adopted product subsidies and user subsidies to expand the renewable energy market, and direct social funds to invest in renewable energy, which has effectively promoted the scale of renewable energy development.