The new policy underscores the government's effort to clean up air quality, a point of contention that has greatly fueled public grievances in recent years.
The government has also readjusted its targeted energy mix for 2016. Under the new blueprint, non-fossil fuels will make up 13.2% of the country's energy, an increase from 12% this year. The ratio of natural gas will also increase to 6.2% from 6% while coal usage will be reduced to 62.6% from around 64.4% this year.
Oversupply and lower demand have already dragged coal prices down to multiyear lows.
China's benchmark power coal price increased 1 yuan per tonne to average at 372 yuan per tonne from December 16-22, according to the Bohai-Rim Steam-Coal Price Index.
"The government's renewed push to phase out coal use will only keep coal prices further depressed," said Gao Jian, an analyst at SCI International, a Shandong-based energy firm.
While coal-fired power in China has gradually abated in recent years in tandem with the country's slowing manufacturing sector, coal is still largely responsible for China's power generation, and China comprises nearly half of the world's coal consumption. As a result, many parts of the country, including Beijing and Shanghai, continue to grapple with toxic smog that shrouds cities, sometimes for days at a time.
Earlier this month, the capital city of Beijing issued its highest-level pollution alert for the first time when the air-quality index topped 300. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said an index reading above 300 is "extremely rare" in the U.S. and generally occurs only during events such as forest fires.
"Due to environment concerns, the government has been quite aggressive in introducing renewable energy into the market, but it might take a long time before we see a real shift because prices will remain as the main factor determining people's habit," said Li Li, director of research at Guangzhou-based ICIS.
For the next five years, the Chinese government also aims to add over 20 million kilowatts of installed wind power and more than 15 million kilowatts of installed photovoltaic power, the National Energy Administration said in a statement online.
Source: Nasdaq
ليست هناك تعليقات:
Write التعليقات