40 years on

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

On Aug 28, 1981, China became a member of the International Solar Energy Society.

Since then, the country’s solar sector has made great strides. The item from China Daily in 1981 showed a solar energy heater for a household.

According to the National Energy Association, China’s photovoltaic industry has witnessed rapid development in recent years, with solarpower generation capacity reaching 118.2 billion kilowatt-hours last year, up 78.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 1.8 percent of the nation’s total power generation, compared with 0.1 percent in 2012.

To optimize the pace of solar-plant construction, Chi- na will add just 30 gigawatts of capacity this year, compared with the record 53 GW last year.

Solar energy is just a part of the country’s efforts to reconstitute its overall energy mix.

According to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment Report published in April by the UN Environment Program and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China was the world’s leading investor in renewable energy last year — solar energy alone received more than 555 billion yuan ($81.6 billion). The 812.5 billion yuan in funding represented the largest sum the nation has spent on the sector in a single year and accounted for 45 percent of the global total.

China will be at the forefront of the increased generation of clean energy, while power storage will benefit from the rapid advances in battery technology. By 2050, China will take pole position in wind and solar energy market share, as well as the storage battery market, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.