China will likely expand its dominance of the booming global renewable- and clean-energy industries as new American energy policies come into play, concludes a report published January 6 by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
“The change in leadership in the U.S. is likely to widen China’s global leadership in industries of the future, building China’s dominance in these sectors in terms of technology, investment, manufacturing and employment,” states the report, “China’s Global Renewable Energy Expansion: How the World’s Second-Biggest Economy Is Positioned to Lead the World in Clean-Power Investment.”
Tim Buckley, lead author of the report and IEEFA’s director of energy finance studies, said the U.S. will very likely become less competitive economically if the Trump administration is able to deliver on its intentions to slow a global energy transition that is gaining momentum.
“The U.S. is already slipping well behind China in the race to secure a larger share of the booming clean energy market. With the incoming administration talking up coal and gas, prospective domestic policy changes don’t bode well,” Buckley said. “If the U.S. is serious about stimulating manufacturing-based growth, clean energy isn’t a sector to turn away from.”
The report details how China made a record $32 billion in overseas investment deals in 2016 alone, marking a 60 percent year-on-year rise in spending.
The report also includes 30 case studies of Chinese companies that are expanding their renewable and clean energy footprints domestically and internationally. It notes the country’s ambitious “pan-Asia” approach across the sector and its growing presence in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. The report puts Chinese global investment in clean energy annually at more than $100 billion, more than twice what the U.S. is investing.
Some samples from the report:
• China will install 36% of all global hydro-electricity generation capacity from 2015-2021. Similarly, China will install 40% of all worldwide wind energy and 36% of all solar in this same period.
• Five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms in 2016 are in China.”
• Chinese leadership and control of the global lithium sector is developing along the lines of the rare-element mining and processing sector, which is now 90% and 72% controlled respectively by Chinese enterprises.
In related news, Power Magazine reported January 17 that “China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has ordered the cessation or postponement of 104 coal-fired power projects in 13 provinces scattered around the country.”