Nation sets targets for energy capacity

Technicians carry out maintenance work on turbines at a wind farm in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, in January. [PHOTO BY YAO FENG/FOR CHINA DAILY]

China vowed on Tuesday to raise its annual comprehensive energy production capacity to more than 4.6 billion metric tons of standard coal by 2025, with its annual crude production gradually increasing to around 200 million tons and annual natural gas output to exceed 230 billion cubic meters.

According to the modern energy system plan under the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration on Tuesday, China's share of nonfossil energy consumption is to increase to around 20 percent by 2025 and the proportion of nonfossil power generation will be around 39 percent by then.

The country will also gradually develop solar and wind power on a large scale with high quality, giving priority to local development and utilization while speeding up the construction of decentralized wind power and distributed photovoltaic in load centers and surrounding areas, the plan said.

The government also encourages steady construction of coastal nuclear power projects with an emphasis on security. Installed capacity for nuclear power plants in operation will reach 70 million kilowatts by 2025, it said.

According to the NDRC, the proportion of nonfossil energy in the nation's total energy consumption had risen from 12 percent in 2016－the starting year of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20)－to 15.9 percent by the end of 2020.