中国的新能源大计划来了

Today we're going to talk about China's latest five-year plan.

This plan is called the 15th Five-Year Plan.

It covers the period from 2026 to 2030.

This plan was passed in March of this year.

Every March, China holds the Two Sessions.

The Two Sessions are two major conferences.

This year's Two Sessions ran from March 4th to the 12th.

At this year's Two Sessions, many topics were discussed.

The most important topic among them was energy.

What is energy?

Energy is what makes machines run.

For example, electricity, petroleum, and natural gas.

There's also solar energy and wind energy.

Solar energy means using sunlight to generate electricity.

Wind energy means using wind to generate electricity.

These are all called clean energy.

Because they don't pollute the air.

China now places great importance on clean energy.

The new five-year plan includes an important goal.

By 2030, non-fossil energy should account for 25 percent.

What is non-fossil energy?

It's energy that doesn't use coal or petroleum.

For example, solar energy, wind energy, and nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy means using nuclear reactions to generate electricity.

Currently, this proportion isn't that high yet.

So China needs to work hard to increase it.

Let's first talk about wind power generation.

There are two types of wind power.

One type is on land.

The other type is at sea.

Offshore wind power generation is called offshore wind power.

The wind at sea is stronger than on land.

So offshore wind power is more efficient.

China plans to reach 100 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.

What does 100 gigawatts mean?

That's a very, very large amount of power generation.

It can supply electricity to many, many cities.

Besides wind energy, there's also nuclear energy.

China is also vigorously developing nuclear energy.

The plan is to reach 110 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2030.

Although nuclear power plants take a long time to build, their power generation is very stable.

Whether or not there's wind, whether or not there's sun, they can generate electricity.

This point is very important.

Let's talk about an even bigger goal.

By 2035, solar plus wind energy should reach 3,600 gigawatts.

This means building about 200 gigawatts every year.

200 gigawatts per year — that speed is incredibly fast.

The whole world is watching how China will do it.

Actually, China already has a very good foundation.

In 2024, China had already reached 1,200 gigawatts.

This goal was originally planned to be completed much later.

But China completed it ahead of schedule.

So everyone is very confident about the new targets.

However, building that much solar and wind power isn't enough.

There's still a big problem to solve.

The sun isn't always there.

At night there's no sun, so there's no solar energy.

The wind doesn't always blow either.

Sometimes the wind is strong, sometimes there's no wind at all.

So just building power plants isn't enough.

You also need to store this electricity.

And you need to send it to where it's needed.

This is the focus of the new plan.

The previous focus was on building more power plants.

Now the focus has changed.

Now the goal is to connect the entire system.

To let different energy sources work together.

For example, what if there's no wind today?

Then use hydropower to make up for it.

Hydropower means using water to generate electricity.

China has many large hydropower stations.

What if the wind is strong and there's too much electricity?

Then store the excess electricity.

How do you store it?

One method is called pumped-storage hydropower.

You use the excess electricity to pump water up a mountain.

When electricity is needed, you let the water flow back down to generate power.

This method is simple but very effective.

China is building many pumped-storage power stations.

Besides storing electricity, you also need to transmit it.

China is very large, and different regions have different conditions.

The western regions get a lot of sun and have strong winds.

For example, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Qinghai.

And also Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Tibet.

These places can generate a lot of electricity.

But these places don't have many people.

They can't use that much electricity.

The eastern regions have many people and many factories.

They need a lot of electricity.

But the east doesn't have as much sun and wind as the west.

So you need to send the west's electricity to the east.

This requires building new power transmission lines.

These lines are called cross-province transmission corridors.

From Inner Mongolia to Beijing and Shanghai.

From Gansu to Guangdong.

From Qinghai to eastern coastal cities.

These lines are very long and cross several provinces.

They're not easy to build, but they're very necessary.

The new five-year plan also mentions some new technologies.

The first is green hydrogen energy.

Hydrogen is a very light gas.

Using clean energy to produce hydrogen is called green hydrogen.

Green hydrogen can be used in factories.

It can also be used in heavy trucks.

The second is green ammonia.

Ammonia is also a type of chemical.

Previously, producing ammonia required a lot of coal.

Now it can be produced using clean energy.

This way it won't pollute the environment.

The third is concentrated solar power.

Concentrated solar power is different from solar panels.

It uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight.

It produces very high temperatures to generate electricity.

Its advantage is that it can also generate electricity at night.

Because the heat can be stored.

The fourth is geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy is heat from underground.

The deeper underground you go, the higher the temperature.

This heat can be used to generate electricity or provide heating.

These new technologies are still developing, but their prospects are very good.

If all these technologies mature, China's energy structure will completely change.

Previously, China mainly relied on coal for electricity.

Coal power is cheap, but it causes a lot of pollution.

Now clean energy is getting cheaper and cheaper.

Solar panel prices are much lower than ten years ago.

The cost of wind power is also declining.

So it's not only good for the environment, but also economically worthwhile.

This plan isn't just about power generation.

It's also related to industry.

China wants to use clean electricity to transform industry.

For example, steel factories used to burn coal.

In the future, they can use electricity to make steel.

This is called industrial transformation.

If all factories use clean electricity, emissions will be greatly reduced.

China treats clean electricity as the foundation for future development.

Whether it's manufacturing or transportation, everything depends on electricity.

Electric vehicles need electricity.

High-speed rail needs electricity.

Data centers also need large amounts of electricity.

If all this electricity is clean, that would be wonderful.

Overall, this new five-year plan is very ambitious.

It not only aims to build more power plants, but also to upgrade the entire energy system.

From power generation to energy storage to power transmission, everything needs improvement.

This is a systemic large-scale project.

China is already leading the way in clean energy.

The next five years will be even more critical.

Let's see if China can achieve these goals.