One goal set for the end of the '11th 5 year plan' is to push non-grain ethanol production beyond two million tons per year.
China's bio-fuel is most concentrated in the the Southwest. After Yunnan, PetroChina's most heavily invested area is Sichuan. Last November, PetroChina and theSichuan government signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement to develop sweet potato and jatropha curcas bio-fuels and to build a prototype facility in Nanchong. Two months ago, China Shanghai Oil came to Sichuan to sign an agreement with the Panzhihua local government, planning to invest RMB 2.35 billion to establish a base capable of producing 100,000 tons worth of bio-fuels a year.
In the two days before PetroChina signed with the State Forestry Administration, the Indonesian firm SMART and Hong Kong Energy Ltd. signed a USD 5.5 billion alternative energy venture to develop crude palm oil-based bio-fuel as well as sugarcane and cassava-based bio-ethanol.
China Shanghai Oil spokesperson Liu Junshan says, alternative energy, as part of a global trend, will overcome oil in 20 to 30 years. If China Shanghai Oil wants to be around in another hundred years, it has to start thinking about alternative energy. For this reason they have all established new departments for new energy.
PetroChina also set up a 'new energy' department last year, mainly focusing on bio-energy and coal-derived-methane. Regarding the Sichuan and Yunnan projects, the afformentioned expert says that the projects are all reforestation efforts, using the fruit from trees and thus not damaging the forests.
However, Liu Junshan says that the development of alternative energy is controlled by the market, that currently there still is no true alternative energy, and that bio-fuel is still not as good as traditional oil while also being limited by region.
'Powerful companies should aim to be the the leadersof alternative energy research, with well-defined financial resources being invested in new things. This is a sign of foresight,' an expert from the Sinopec Oil Prospecting Institute says. 'In the future, whether it's due to oil price increases or the demands of environmental protection, all will need effective alternative energy.'
To him, bio-energy technology is still immature and international oil prices are not actually high. Even in Europe, where new energy is taken very seriously, new energy hasn't made much progress. Thus, bio-energy projects should be fixed in scope, we cannot rush them or place such a large subsidy burden on the country.
- Energy Task Force Leaves the Capital | 2007-07-31
- The Bio-Fuel Wars | 2007-05-08
