A MATTER OF PROPORTION: $187.5 BILLION VS $100 MILLION

Massive capital for renewable power
Xie Chuanjiao, October 26, 2006 (China Daily)

- China will invest 1.5 trillion yuan (US$187.5 billion) to increase the ratio of renewable energy consumption, said Wu Guihui, vice-director-general of the Bureau of Energy under the National Development and Reform Commission.
- Currently, 7.5 per cent of China's energy comes from renewable sources. The country's goal is to make it 10 per cent by 2010 and 16 per cent by 2020, revised from its initial goal of 20 per cent.
- "Within 10 years, we will see a population of 30 million, in all the remote rural areas, have access to electricity, mainly from renewable energy-powered projects," Wu told the Great Wall World Renewable Energy Forum & Exhibition…
- Furthermore, the country will push the development of the renewable energy industry, introducing advanced foreign technology and further developing technology with proprietary intellectual property rights…

- From 2002 to 2004, China poured 4.7 billion yuan (US$587.5 million) into small-scale hydropower systems intended for rural areas…
- [T]he capacity of biomass power will reach 5.5 million kilowatts in 2010 and 30 million kilowatts in 2020…
- [W]ind power…will be 5 million kilowatts in 2010 and 30 million kilowatts in 2020…
- As the world's leader in the use of solar cells, China intends to increase the total area of cells in use to 300 million square metres by 2020…

VS

DOE Awards $100M in Fuel Cell Grants
October 24, 2006 (Associated Press via Houston Chronicle)
- The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced $100 million in grants to fund 25 hydrogen fuel cell research and development projects designed to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy.

- Research laboratories and universities received about half of the grants, but 3M Co., GrafTech International Ltd., Plug Power, and a unit of industrial conglomerate United Technologies Corp. also received awards.
- The department will spend $100 million over four years on the projects, which seek to overcome cost and durability barriers associated with hydrogen fuel cell research. The applicants will provide another $27 million.
- 3M, maker of Scotch tape and furnace filters, received a total of $17.3 million, while UTC Power was awarded $8.4 million. GrafTech, maker of graphite electrodes, was awarded a $2.3 million grant, and energy products provider Plug Power received $8.6 million.
- Fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity, with only water and heat as byproducts and are up to three times more efficient than traditional internal combustion technologies, according to the Energy Department. But the cells are currently more expensive than internal combustion engines, and have difficulty maintaining performance…

DOE is apparently counting on the private sector to pay the price and reap the reward. Or maybe China will pay the price and reap the reward. Private sector—China—private sector—China…What’s that about all the private sector investment in China?