Rural Energy Development In China

In this title, originally published in 1981, author Robert P. Taylor calls for a greater understanding of rural energy supply and consumption patterns in the developing countries. Here, Taylor specifically examines the rural energy development in China as it is the world’s largest developing country in terms of population, and it has encountered many of the rural energy problems common in other developing countries. This study provides an analysis of China’s rural energy economy from before 1949 to a general discussion of achievements in rural energy development and the rural energy economy in 1981. This is an ideal title for students interested in environmental studies and development studies.

The UNDP Regional Energy Programme for Poverty Reduction (REP-PoR) aims to affect broad-based interventions in the energy sector, focusing on Asia Pacific countries. The emphasis is on harnessing energy effectively to meet developmental targets laid out in the Millennium Development Goals. As a first step to achieve the objectives of REP-PoR, this publication reports on China's energy sector and its linkages to poverty concerns, gaps therein, and modalities for overcoming the same. It aims to facilitate the inclusion of a strong energy component to China's socio-economic development programmes.

China is an energy-dependent country and its rapid economic growth in the past 30 years is accompanied by tremendous energy consumption. Constrained by resource endowment, most of the primary energy consumed in China is coal, which leads to serious global, regional and local environmental issues. To ensure sustainable development, China has formulated ambitious targets for developing renewable energy and dozens of policies to deliver it have been adopted. Especially since the enactment of the Renewable Energy Law in 2006, renewable energy has experienced a boom in China. Now China is the biggest developer of hydropower and wind power, as well as the biggest manufacturer of PV cells in the world. This book is a systematic review on renewable energy in China and focuses on four interrelated topics: resources, institution, policy and industry development. The introductory chapter will describe the overall picture of renewable energy in China. Then four industries, including wind power, solar power, biomass and ocean power, will be discussed in separate chapters around the policy, industry development, barriers and market prospective. In light of the important role in delivering renewable energy, the next chapter discusses the progress of smart grids in China, with a particular perspective on the institutional arrangement for promoting its development more effectively. A chapter is devoted to the progress of Golden Sun Program, the Chinese government's initiative to promote the domestic solar power market. Another chapter addresses rural energy, poverty and renewable energy, a special topic on social and developmental aspects of renewable energy. The last chapter presents the topic of energy systems in transition and proposes policy suggestions for delivering renewable energy in China.

This reports on a detailed market study of rural areas in China without access to electricity from the local or national grid. It obtained basic socio-economic data on households with and without photovaoltaic (PV) systems, and used the data to determine the market potential for PV systems in such areas.

More than 1.3 billion people worldwide lack access to electricity. Although extension of the electricity grid remains the preferred mode of electrification, off-grid electrification can offer a solution to such cases. Rural Electrification through Decentralised Off-grid Systems in Developing Countries provides a review of rural electrification experiences with an emphasis on off-grid electrification and presents business-related aspects including participatory arrangements, financing, and regulatory governance. Organized in three parts, Rural Electrification through Decentralised Off-grid Systems in Developing Countries provides comprehensive coverage and state-of-the art reviews which appraise the reader of the latest trend in the thinking. The first part presents the background information on electricity access, discusses the developmental implications of lack of electricity infrastructure and provides a review of alternative off-grid technologies. The second part presents a review of experiences from various regions (South Asia, China, Africa, South East Asia and South America). Finally, the third part deals with business dimensions and covers participatory business models, funding challenges for electrification and regulatory and governance issues. Based on the research carried out under the EPSRC/ DfID funded research grant for off-grid electrification in South Asia, Rural Electrification through Decentralised Off-grid Systems in Developing Countries provides a multi-disciplinary perspective of the rural electrification challenge through off-grid systems. Providing a practical introduction for students, this is also a key reference for engineers and governing bodies working with off-grid electrification.