China may increase energy supply from solar energy in wake of nuke crisis

China may increase energy supply from solar energy in wake of nuke crisis

2011-03-30 15:33:50 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- China is considering to raise its five-year goal for photovoltaics (PV) industry capacity from five gigawatts (GW) to 10 GW in wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan, state-run media reported on Wednesday.

Shi Lishan, deputy director of the renewable energy department at the National Energy Administration (NEA), told the state-run Xinhua news agency that it is discussing to lift its PV capacity.

China is the largest PV producer in the world and its PV production hit about 4000MW last year. But China had previously planned to set its nuclear capacity target for 2020 at 86 GW, accounting for about 4 percent of the country's energy consumption.

These numbers could now be revised in order to get more energy from PV instead of nuclear energy. Shi said the revision is 'very likely' to be approved, although it is still under discussion.

The ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan has prompted worldwide discussion about the safety of nuclear power plants. An enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a resulting tsunami heavily damaged power plants in northeastern Japan earlier this month.

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