CHINA WANTS SUN

China to step up solar energy research, development
Yang Lina, January 26, 2009 (Xinhua)

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched an initiative to boost the development of solar energy technology, in a bid to turn it into a major energy source in China by 2050.

"A CAS official said that the academy had organized academicians and experts to make an action plan and will set up a platform to support scientific innovations involving solar energy.

"The plan will be carried out in three phases, including "distributed utilization" by 2015, "alternative utilization" by 2025 and "large-scale utilization" by 2035…"

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"This action plan aims to form value chain on technological innovation including basic studies, application studies and market research.

"CAS experts said that China has a big potential for solar energy development. The duration of sunshine for two-thirds of its territory is more than 2,200 hours a year. It also has vast desert areas…the use of solar energy could effectively reduce the discharge of green-house gases…

"CAS's advanced energy scientific and technological innovation center invited experts and scholars to carry out investigation and research on China's energy industry…lowering the costs for using solar energy would be the key…"