China steps up efforts to tackle curtailment of renewable energy

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In China the government is now a lot of plans for the development of both its own space program and the establishment of evaluation programs loyalty of citizens, as well as with respect to the energy sector. Thus, by 2020 the country plans to invest in alternative energy (renewable energy) of about $ 361 billion. Thus, the country's government plans to gradually move away from "dirty" energy sources such as coal to solar energy, wind energy and other sources.

According to representatives of the National Energy Administration (NEA), leaving a "clean" energy will create an additional 13 million jobs in the energy sector. The project lies in the five-year plan, which is already in progress.

By the way, the Chinese Renewable Energy officials added and radioactive elements. That is, build will not only vetroelektrostrantsii, hydroelectric and solar farms, and nuclear power plants. All of these energy sources in total will be given to 50% of the electricity that will consume the country by 2020. Detailed allocation in different directions yet, and Chinese officials are unlikely to reveal these details soon.

Despite the fact that the active development of the energy sector helped the economy to grow almost exponentially, the Chinese authorities are now sounding the alarm - many regions is very heavily polluted. Also in Beijing, for example, has several times declared the so-called red danger level, as the level of air pollution in this city many times higher than is considered acceptable.

The State Council of the People's Republic of China last month announced that the electricity generated by solar energy should be increased five-fold over the next five years. This means that the country can build more than 1,000 solar farms. The development of "solar" in the direction of China is constantly increasing. For example, last year, the country has become the largest supplier of solar energy in the world. In many ways, this contributes to the overall reduction in price of construction of solar power plants - the components are gradually getting cheaper, which allows the country to create more solar farms.

 “The government may exceed these targets because there are more investment opportunities in the sector as costs go down,” said Steven Han, renewable analyst with securities firm Shenyin Wanguo. 

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By the way, Chinese scientists are now engaged in the development of this energy source, and as fusion. Early last year, the Chinese were able to heat the plasma to temperatures of about 50 million degrees, and the plasma was kept in a stable condition 102 seconds. To achieve this record Chinese scientists "working day and night," said in a statement the scientists. And it's really an achievement, because until now no one has ever kept the plasma in a stable state for longer than 20 seconds. The Chinese, they said, were able to solve a number of scientific and engineering problems, including monitoring the position of the magnet, as well as capturing high-energy particles that have "escaped" from a magnetic "donut" field, confining the plasma.

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As for nuclear power, the experts from China are going to transform their TPP NPP. For information about the project announced Professor Zhang Zuoyi at a conference on energy. The scientist said that China will gradually abandon the burning of coal, removing old equipment with thermal power plants and replacing it with a new one. Nuclear power plant will be equipped with high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactors (HTGRs). Upgrading will not all coal plants, but only those that are able to work with very hot steam. Only they will be able to withstand temperatures that are typical for high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactors.

Chinese experts took the decision to use a specific kind of reactors in which the nuclear fuel is placed in the micro fuel pellets, which are embedded in the sphere the size of a baseball. The external layer here are graphite and ceramics, performing the role of a moderator neurons. Hundreds of such balls are placed in containers, where helium is started. The gas absorbs heat which is recovered balls and directs heat to the coolant. His role is played by the water. Heated to a high temperature steam is fed to a turbine, which rotates and generates electricity.

The problem of this type of reactors only in their high cost. The electricity generated by them is 1.5 times as much solar energy and 4 times more energy produced by thermal power plants with natural gas. But in China, according to the developers, it is possible to mass-produce such reactors and fuel, "balls", so that the energy cost can be much lower.

According to economists, China began to reduce the production and use of coal. There are several reasons for the current situation: the economic slowdown, some decline in the coal industry and the general trend with respect to reducing dependence on coal. Now, China is on the first place in the world for the consumption of this resource.

Referenced Materials:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/05/china-invest-renewable-fuel-2020-energy
2. http://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/1909796/new-dawn-chinese-scientists-move-step-closer-creating
3. http://atomicinsights.com/will-china-convert-existing-coal-plants-nuclear-using-htr-pm-reactors/
4. http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2777.html