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China’s technology sector has grown so rapidly in the last two decades that it is pushing the United States out of its long-held position at the top of the digital food chain. Advancements by companies like Huawei, WeChat, Baidu, Tencent and others are helping the Chinese economy grow at an unprecedented rate and influencing the global economy. China and the U.S. are battling to be the leader in 5G technology, a fight it seems that Chinese tech companies are winning. A new book by journalist Rebecca Fannin looks at how China has come to dominate areas ranging from telecommunications to artificial intelligence to e-commerce. It is titled Tech Titans of China: How China’s Tech Sector is Challenging the World by Innovating Faster, Working Harder and Going Global. Fannin, who is also the founder of media platform Silicon Dragon Ventures, joined the K@W radio show on SiriusXM channel 132 to talk about her book. (Listen to the full podcast at the top of this page.)
An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
Knowledge@Wharton: How has the tech sector in China been able to develop so quickly?
Fannin: Some of it has to do with venture capital investment. And some of that venture capital investment has come from Sand Hill Road [Silicon Valley], funded by our pension funds, our universities, our endowments, our family offices. But I also think a lot of it has to do with China’s own entrepreneurial culture. It’s innovating very fast. It’s moving very swiftly. They are working nonstop. China’s entrepreneurs and the tech sector are just very ambitious. It’s unstoppable.
Knowledge@Wharton: “Social” seems to be a key word when talking about the Chinese economy. Are e-commerce and social media playing big roles in China’s becoming such an influential global player?
Fannin: Social commerce is all about online shopping and sharing and prizes and games. It’s a business model that we really don’t have in the U.S. Social commerce has come on very strong. There is a [group-buying platform] called Pinduoduo, which went public in New York last year and has gone on to become one of these tech giants in just three years’ time. They are already China’s second-largest e-commerce player, and they’ve developed this whole new business model around social commerce.
Knowledge@Wharton: There are areas where the U.S. is behind China, such as the development of 5G. Will the U.S. be able to catch up?
Fannin: 5G is one of those clear battlegrounds. Huawei is the No. 1 telecom equipment operator, and the U.S. is not allowing Huawei equipment to be sold into the U.S. This is going to be an area that the U.S. needs to catch up in. Right now, the U.S. doesn’t have a 5G player. The main players are Huawei and GTE from China, plus Nokia and Ericsson. China is outspending us on 5G wireless infrastructure and those towers that need to be built. So, 5G is coming very soon, and this is going to be one area to watch.
…The U.S. needs a policy that can address China’s rise in technology. China has top-down government directives that are propelling the country forward in all kinds of technology sectors. The “Made in China 2025” [plan] has designated time periods where China is going to lead globally in certain sectors, and the U.S. really does not have anything that’s the equivalent to that. Of course, it’s a totally different governmental system, but the U.S. needs some muscle behind our technology prowess. The U.S. is still the world’s leader, but China is coming up very fast.
Knowledge@Wharton: In the book, you discuss electric vehicles. We’re seeing some growth of EVs here, but not at the rate we are seeing in other parts of the world, specifically China. It seems like China has bought into the role that EVs can play in their culture and how important they can be for their economy overall.
“The U.S. is still the world’s leader, but China is coming up very fast.”
Fannin: This is true. Electric vehicles are being adopted more quickly in China than in the U.S., and we see entire cities with their bus fleets that are electric, such as in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The U.S. needs to catch up with this electric vehicle sector, as well. China has 40 new electric vehicle makers that have come on the scene. Some of them have already gone public in the U.S. — for instance, Nio, which has been called “a Tesla killer.” But there are others such as Xpeng, and these companies are funded by very large technology companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu. They are also started by technologists and serial entrepreneurs, not automakers. This gives China a real advantage.
Knowledge@Wharton: How big is the impact of venture capital investment from the U.S. in China?
Fannin: It’s having a tremendous impact. The spending of venture capitalists in China is almost equal to the spending in the U.S. Most of these startups in China that have come forth, that have become tech titans, were funded originally by venture capital. They scaled up really fast. They got into a lot of new sectors. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are no longer just in their original e-commerce and gaming areas, but they are in totally new areas that are impacted by technology. And they went public. They went public either in Hong Kong or New York, and they’ve scaled up. We’re continuing to see lots of venture capital going into China, creating startups. The startup culture is very alive and well in China.
Knowledge@Wharton: Was there something specific that these VCs were seeing, even in the early stages, that made them believe that investing in China was important, maybe even more than investing in the U.S.?
Fannin: You have to look at the impact of Alibaba. That was funded by some Silicon Valley investors, and they made a lot of money on that. The same thing with Baidu and some of the other original internet startups. That was the first generation. Now we’re seeing a whole new group of newcomers coming up, such as Toutiao, the 15-second video app; Meituan, [an app connecting users to local takeout food and service providers]; DiDi in car-hailing or taxi-hailing; Xiaomi, the smartphone maker; and SenseTime in AI. [SenseTime in early October was banned by the Trump administration from operating in the U.S. because its face-recognition technology allegedly has been involved in human rights violations in some parts of China. The move threatened to upset a planned $1 billion IPO for the company, which is backed by Alibaba.] These companies are funded by venture capitalists in the West and also from other places such as Japan. SoftBank is a major player.
Knowledge@Wharton: If some of the barriers could be broken, the potential for growth through partnerships of companies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean would be unbelievable, right?
“The spending of venture capitalists in China is almost equal to the spending in the U.S.”
Fannin: Correct. China has been investing in U.S. technology companies. They have invested in Uber, Lyft, Magic Leap, Tesla and many other technology startups in the U.S. In the meantime, the U.S. has been funding Chinese startups. At the same time, we’ve seen a lot of collaboration and cooperation in Silicon Valley, where U.S. and China investors group together and go behind the startup. They push it forward. I’m beginning to see a [disruption] of this long-time collaboration and cooperation, which I think is unfortunate because it will eventually slow down global innovation.
Knowledge@Wharton: There is talk that the Chinese economy will slow down, and there have been questions on the reliability of the growth numbers reported by the Chinese government. Those numbers are enviable.
Fannin: Yes, they are. There has really been no country that has come up like this over the past 15 years so fast and become the world’s second-largest economic power in very little time.
Knowledge@Wharton: Can you tell us about the development of drones and robots in China?
Fannin: I write about a startup called DJI that is the biggest in Shenzhen in Southern China, just across the border from Hong Kong, and it’s the world’s leading drone maker. They make drones for all kinds of purposes — for consumers, hobbies, filming weddings, to doing agricultural oversight and many other uses. They have a 75% market share. There’s another company that I write about in the book called EHang, which is making a drone that people can fly in. It’s kind of a helicopter drone. That’s one to watch.
Knowledge@Wharton: What is the state of entrepreneurship in China?
Fannin: It’s on the go all the time. There are a lot of incubators and accelerators in China, just like there are in the West. You see these incubators creating new startups and funding them. And I think you see a lot of co-working spaces, too, where startups are hanging out. There are a lot of conferences, a lot of forums where there’s an exchange of ideas among entrepreneurs. Information moves really quickly in China through WeChat, the messaging app that’s ubiquitous. The information flow is one of the things that I think really has helped China’s tech startups to develop.
Knowledge@Wharton: You also dive into the ride-sharing business of DiDi in China. How strong is that company in China compared with Uber here, which still is not profitable?
Fannin: DiDi is still private, but the interesting thing about DiDi and Uber is that they were in a fight for the market in China. DiDi’s local Chinese competitor actually won that fight and ended up taking over Uber’s business in China and folding it into DiDi. So, now you have this giant ride-hailing company in China. It really just dominates the market. Eventually it will go public, but I think maybe not immediately.
Knowledge@Wharton: What is the state of the chip market in China?
Fannin: This is an area that China needs to improve in — the whole chip/semiconductor area. The U.S. and other markets — Korea, Japan — have the leadership in these areas. China is advancing, but their chips are not as advanced as what we see in the West. They’re working on this. This is one of the things that is in the “Made in China 2025” policy. They’re going to catch up in these core technology areas.
Knowledge@Wharton: How much influence and support is there from the Chinese government towards these companies?
“The startup culture is very alive and well in China.”
Fannin: There’s definitely influence in the state-owned companies, and then there are these privately financed, venture capital-backed companies that have gone public. The leaders of companies such as Alibaba in some ways need to answer, or feel that they should answer, to the Chinese government, so you do see situations where there is influence. And you do see the Chinese government also regulating these technology companies, just like we have in the U.S. They regulate the number of hours that kids can play Tencent games. They’ve also regulated some of this whole click bait content that has become so pervasive in China with mobile apps. The click bait content is just kind of racy or gets a lot of clicks immediately. They’ve cracked down on some of these things. The government is the overriding influence, I think.
Knowledge@Wharton: You also bring up WeWork, which has found a level of success in China that maybe it hasn’t found yet here. Is that because the IPO here keeps getting pushed back?
Fannin: China is a huge market opportunity for WeWork, and I have been in several of the WeWork facilities in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing. In fact, my group, Silicon Dragon, has even held events at WeWork in China. But I think it’s a wide-open opportunity field in China today. Whoever gets there first can dominate that market. WeWork is in there; they’re racing for it. There are local competitors such as Ucommune, a company that I profile in the book, as well.
It’s really interesting because some of them have included technology advances within these co-working facilities that we don’t really have here in the U.S., such as using facial recognition to sign in. You get your face recorded, and you’re allowed entrance. Of course, facial recognition is much more prevalent in China than it is here in the U.S.
Knowledge@Wharton: LinkedIn is one of the rare U.S. companies that still is working in China. What is it about LinkedIn that has enabled it to grow in that country?
Fannin: It has to do with business professional networking, so it’s not the kind of exchanges that you might see on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram. LinkedIn is wide open in China. In fact, when I go to China, which I do regularly, I’ll use LinkedIn a lot. I also use WeChat in China quite a bit. But LinkedIn has persevered in this very competitive marketplace in China. I do think LinkedIn still struggles somewhat to get to the local Chinese community. It’s more popular with the expat community in China.
Knowledge@Wharton: Are there the same concerns around social media in China that we’ve seen here recently, such as privacy and data sharing?
Fannin: That’s very interesting because the WeChat system already has private group sharing. That was already baked into WeChat. Facebook copied that element of WeChat and put it on Facebook as an option. I think the whole privacy concerns in China are not as pronounced as they are in the U.S. It’s not something that the average Chinese citizen ponders a lot.
Knowledge@Wharton: You note in the book that these battles between the U.S. and China go all the way down to the coffee level. How so?
Fannin: Oh, they do. Starbucks is in a race for the market in China. Starbucks has been in China for many, many years, and they’re on almost every street corner. But they now have a new challenger called Luckin. The coffee does not taste as good as Starbucks, but it’s a little less pricey and very convenient. It’s on-demand coffee by mobile app and scooter delivery directly to your office. Now, Starbucks is having to copy that model of instant delivery or on-demand delivery, and they’ve partnered with Alibaba to do that.
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2 Comments So Far
Sunil Misra
China is corrupt, an intellectual property thief, a government run capitalist state (the definition of fascism), and picks and chooses which companies to back, creating huge businesses that, given free competition, would not succeed as they are structured. Doing business with a fascist state, one committing genocide in Tibet and crushing human rights, is ethically wrong.
Anumakonda Jagadeesh
Excellent.
China has long history of inventions advancement in Science and Technology besides medicine and Renewable Energy.
List of Chinese Inventions
China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and inventions. This includes the Four Great Inventions: papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing (both woodblock and movable type). The list below contains these and other inventions in China attested by archaeological or historical evidence.
The historical region now known as China experienced a history involving mechanics, hydraulics and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, craftsmanship, naval architecture and warfare. By the Warring States period (403–221 BC), inhabitants of the Warring States had advanced metallurgic technology, including the blast furnace and cupola furnace, while the finery forge and puddling process were known by the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220). A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as paper money during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The invention of gunpowder during the mid 9th century led to an array of inventions such as the fire lance, land mine, naval mine, hand cannon, exploding cannonballs, multistage rocket and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads. With the navigational aid of the 11th century compass and ability to steer at high sea with the 1st century sternpost rudder, premodern Chinese sailors sailed as far as East Africa. In water-powered clockworks, the premodern Chinese had used the escapement mechanism since the 8th century and the endless power-transmitting chain drive in the 11th century. They also made large mechanical puppet theaters driven by waterwheels and carriage wheels and wine-serving automatons driven by paddle wheel boats.
The contemporaneous Peiligang and Pengtoushan cultures represent the oldest Neolithic cultures of China and were formed around 7000 BC. Some of the first inventions of Neolithic China include semilunar and rectangular stone knives, stone hoes and spades, the cultivation of millet and the soybean, the refinement of sericulture, the building of rammed earth structures with lime-plastered house floors, the creation of pottery with cord-mat-basket designs, the creation of pottery tripods and pottery steamers and the development of ceremonial vessels and scapulimancy for purposes of divination. The British sinologist Francesca Bray argues that the domestication of the ox and buffalo during the Longshan culture (c. 3000–c. 2000 BC) period, the absence of Longshan-era irrigation or high-yield crops, full evidence of Longshan cultivation of dry-land cereal crops which gave high yields “only when the soil was carefully cultivated,” suggest that the plough was known at least by the Longshan culture period and explains the high agricultural production yields which allowed the rise of Chinese civilization during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC). Later inventions such as the multiple-tube seed drill and heavy moldboard iron plough enabled China to sustain a much larger population through greater improvements in agricultural output.
Neolithic cultures in Southern China, such as the Liangzhu, Majiabang, and Hemudu, were precursors of the Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, and Hmong-Mien speakers. They were collectively referred to as Baiyue or “barbarians”. They were the sites of early Neolithic advancements like rice cultivation and paddy field agriculture. The most advanced examples which might have represented the earliest true states are the Daxi and Qujialing cultures (possibly Hmong-Mien) of the Upper Yangtze; and the Hemudu, Majiabang and Liangzhu cultures of the Yangtze Delta (pre-Austronesian). These peoples moved further south in response to the Han expansion at around 200 BC. Pre-Austronesians, in particular, settled Taiwan from the Fujian region, then spread out rapidly into Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar.[16]
For the purposes of this list, inventions are regarded as technological firsts developed in China, and as such does not include foreign technologies which the Chinese acquired through contact, such as the windmill from the Middle East or the telescope from early modern Europe. It also does not include technologies developed elsewhere and later invented separately by the Chinese, such as the odometer, water wheel, and chain pump. Scientific, mathematical or natural discoveries, changes in minor concepts of design or style and artistic innovations do not appear on the list.
The Four Great Inventions are inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture and history for their significance and as symbols of ancient China’s advanced science and technology.
The Four Great Inventions are:
• Compass
• Gunpowder
• Papermaking
• Printing
These four discoveries had a profound impact on the development of civilization throughout the world. However, some modern Chinese scholars have opined that other Chinese inventions were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact on Chinese civilization – the Four Great Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological interaction between East and West.
After the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, China reorganized its science establishment along Soviet lines. Although the country regressed scientifically as a result of government policies which led to famine during the Great Leap Forward and political chaos during the Cultural Revolution, scientific research in nuclear weapons and satellite launching still gained great success. From 1975, science and technology was one of the Four Modernizations, and its high-speed development was declared essential to all national economic development by Deng Xiaoping. Other civilian technologies such as superconductivity and high-yield hybrid rice led to new developments due to the application of science to industry and foreign technology transfer.
As the People’s Republic of China becomes better connected to the global economy, the government has placed more emphasis on science and technology. This has led to increases in funding, improved scientific structure, and more money for research. These factors have led to advancements in agriculture, medicine, genetics, and global change. In 2003, the Chinese space program allowed China to become the third country to send humans into space, and ambition to put a man on mars by 2030. In the 2000s and 2010s, China became a top scientific and industrial power in more advanced fields such as super computing, artificial intelligence, bullet trains, aeronautics, nuclear physics researches and other fields.
In 2016, China became the country with the highest science output, as measured in publications. While the US had been the biggest producer of scientific studies until then, China published 426,000 studies in 2016 while the US published 409,000. However, the numbers are somewhat relative, as it also depends how authorship on international collaborations is counted (e.g. if one paper is counted per person or whether authorship is split among authors). Wikipedia.
Aerospace Probe
China’s investment in research and development is expected to reach 2.5% of GDP, and the contribution of scientific and technological advances toward economic growth should come to reach 60%.
— The 13th Five-Year Plan of China (2016－2020)
The central government’s commitment is aimed at making China a leading power in science and technology by the middle of the century, or around the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
—President Xi Jinping’s address at a biennial conference of the country’s two top think tanks on May 31
Three-step goals: To develop China into an innovation-oriented country by 2020, to place China among top innovation-oriented countries by 2030, and to turn China into a technological innovation powerhouse by 2025.
— Outline of the National Strategy of Innovation-Driven Development released by the Ministry of Science and Technology on May 23
China is now decisively the second-largest performer of research and development.
— The US-based National Science Board that advises the President and Congress on science and engineering policy issues.
Aerospace Probe
Tiangong II, launched on Sept 15, 2016
The space lab is 10.4 meters high, 3.35 meters in diameter and weighs 8.6 metric tons. It has two cabins – one acts as the astronauts’ living quarters and the other contains solar panels, storage batteries, propellant and engines.
Its major tasks are to accommodate astronauts’ medium-length stay in it and test life-support technologies, to demonstrate in-orbit refueling and repair plans and to conduct experiments pertaining to space sciences.
Shenzhou XI, launched on Oct 17 and returned on Nov 18, 2016
It carries astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong to dock with Tiangong II on Oct 19. Astronauts conduct medical experiments and space science experiments such as raising silkworms and planting vegetables in space.
The Shenzhou XI-Tiangong II mission was China’s sixth manned spaceflight and is expected to pave the way for a permanent space station, which the country plans to start building in 2018 and put into service in about 2022.
SJ-10 retrievable satellite, launched on April 6 and recovered on April 18, 2016
The Shenzhou XI-Tiangong II mission was China’s sixth manned spaceflight and is expected to pave the way for a permanent space station, which the country plans to start building in 2018 and put into service in about 2022.
Long March 5, heavy-lift two-stage rocket, launched on Nov 3, 2016
The 57-meter-tall rocket has a liftoff weight of 870 metric tons, and a maximum payload capacity of 25 tons to low Earth orbit and 14 tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Long March 5 will enable China to put its future manned station into space and send unmanned probes to Mars. It is scheduled to carry the Chang’e-5 lunar probe around 2017.
Five memorable moments
First satellite – Dongfanghong-1, on April 24, 1970 Fifth nation to join the “space club”
First manned spacecraft (2003) Yang Liwei, 38, spends 21 hours in orbit
Third country ever to send a human into space
First spacewalk by Zhai Zhigang, 42, (2008)
Third country to leave footprint in the universe
First space lab Tiangong-1 (2011)
Preparation to put a permanent manned space station into service around 2022
First lunar “soft” landing – lunar probe Chang’e-3 (2013)
With lunar rover “Yutu” (Jade Rabbit) for surveying the moon’s geological structure and surface substances and looking for natural resources
Ambitious plans
2017 – Send lunar probe Chang’e 5 to land on the moon and return with lunar samples.
2020 – Complete aerospace projects currently under way, including manned space programs, lunar probes, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, and the Gaofen observation satellite program. China also intends to send an unmanned probe to Mars that is expected to orbit and land on the Red Planet and conduct scientific research.
2025 – Will complete construction of national civilian space infrastructure.
2036 – Plan to send astronauts to the moon under its manned lunar exploration program. To date, only the United States has successfully landed astronauts on the moon.
World’s first quantum communication satellite
Micius, the world’s first quantum communication satellite developed by China, was launched into space on Aug 16, 2016.
The 631-kilogram satellite, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist Micius, operates 500 kilometers above Earth for at least two years.
The satellite is dedicated to quantum science experiments, and it will serve as evidence that China is leading the world to achieve satellite-earth quantum communication.
The satellite is dedicated to quantum science experiments, and it will serve as evidence that China is leading the world to achieve satellite-earth quantum communication.
Taking a big step in building a space-based quantum communication network that would be virtually uncrackable.
World’s longest quantum communication network
China will complete and put into service the world’s longest quantum communication network stretching 2,000km from Beijing to Shanghai in the second half of this year.
Government agencies and banks in cities along the route can use it first. By 2030, the Chinese network would be extended worldwide.
Tiangong-2, which can enable two astronauts to live in space for 30 days, can receive manned and cargo spaceships and will be used for testing systems and processes for space stays and refueling.
In 2012, China built the world’s first metropolitan area quantum network in Hefei, linking 46 nodes to allow real-time voice communications, text messages and file transfers.
Breakthrough
Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), or Tianyan, is the world’s largest of its kind, overtaking Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter. FAST’s large hemispheric surface is made up of 4,450 1.3-millimeter-thin reflecting panels, each weighing 427 to 482.5 kilograms. It is 10 times more sensitive than the steerable 100-meter telescope near Bonn, Germany.
Scientific application
FAST can detect weak radio signals from the outer space, even beyond our own solar system and will be helpful in areas such as large-scale physics of the universe and understanding the nature of dark matter.
It will also contribute to the international search for intelligent extraterrestrial life and could also be used to track spacecraft involved in China’s space program.
It is capable of identifying gravitational waves, detecting radio emissions from the outer reaches of space and listening for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life.
Construction and cost
With an investment of 1.2 billion yuan ($185 million), this gigantic project started in 2011, 17 years after it was proposed by Chinese astronomers.
Artificial Intelligence and Super Computing
Three-year ‘Internet Plus’ artificial intelligence plan
China will speed up the development of its artificial intelligence (AI) sector and create a market worth more than 100 billion yuan ($15.26 billion) over the next three years.
By 2018, China shall build platforms for fundamental AI resources and innovation and make breakthroughs on basic core technology to be in line with global AI technology and industries by 2018.
The country will cultivate and develop emerging artificial intelligence industries, promote innovation in intelligent products and enhance the intelligence level of terminal products.
The program will involve key projects such as intelligent home appliances, smart automobiles, intelligent unmanned systems, intelligent wearable devices and robots(Chinadaily.com).
Two Robot hit on social media
Robot Monk
Buddhist monasteries are often associated with tradition and the ancient past but one located 30 kilometers northwest of Beijing’s Zhongguancun – China’s innovation hub – has become famous for looking to the future with its use of cutting-edge technology and for its latest recruit, a robot.
‘Jia Jia’
A new interactive robot, named Jia Jia, looking like a real woman, was showcased at the 2016 China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair from April 21 to 23.
Supercomputing – TaihuLight
The research team of the Sunway TaihuLight, a Wuxi-made supercomputer, was announced as the winner of the 2016 ACM Gordon Bell Prize in Salt Lake City on Nov 17, 2016.
The prize is known as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the field of high-performance computing applications. This is the first time Chinese researchers have been awarded the prize.
The supercomputer is launched on June 20, 2016, and can perform a staggering 93 petaflops/s (quadrillions of calculations per second). Its processors and technology all designed in China.
Renewable Energy in China
China is the world’s leading country in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over double the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States. By the end of 2018, the country had a total capacity of 728 GW of renewable power, mainly from hydroelectric and wind power. China’s renewable energy sector is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity.
Although China currently has the world’s largest installed capacity of hydro, solar and wind power, its energy needs are so large that in 2015 renewable sources provided only 24% of its electricity generation, with most of the remainder provided by coal power plants.[1] In 2017, renewable energy comprised 36.6% of China’s total installed electric power capacity, and 26.4% of total power generation, the vast majority from hydroelectric sources. Nevertheless, the share of renewable sources in the energy mix had been gradually rising in recent years.
China sees renewables as a source of energy security and not just only to reduce carbon emission China’s Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution issued by China’s State Council in September 2013, illustrates the government’s desire to increase the share of renewables in China’s energy mix Unlike oil, coal and gas, the supplies of which are finite and subject to geopolitical tensions, renewable energy systems can be built and used wherever there is sufficient water, wind, and sun
As Chinese renewable manufacturing has grown, the costs of renewable energy technologies have dropped dramatically. Innovation has helped, but the main driver of reduced costs has been market expansion.[5] In 2015, China became the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic power, with 43 GW of total installed capacity. From 2005 to 2014, production of solar cells in China has expanded 100-fold. However, China is not expected to achieve grid parity – when an alternate source of energy is as cheap or cheaper than power purchased from the grid—until 2022. In 2017, investments in renewable energy amounted to US$279.8 billion worldwide, with China accounting for US$126.6 billion or 45% of the global investments.
Wind Power
China has the largest wind resources in the world and three-quarters of this natural resource is located at sea.[14] China aims to have 210 GW of wind power capacity by 2020. China encourages foreign companies, especially from the United States, to visit and invest in Chinese wind power generation. However, use of wind energy in China has not always kept up with the remarkable construction of wind power capacity in the country.
In 2008 China was the fourth largest producer of wind power after the United States, Germany, and Spain. At the end of 2008, wind power in China accounted for 12.2 GW of electricity generating capacity. By the end of 2008, at least fifteen Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components. Turbine sizes of 1.5 MW and 2 MW became common. Leading wind power companies were Goldwind, Dongfang, and Sinovel. China also increased the production of small-scale wind turbines to about 80,000 turbines (80 MW) in 2008. Through all these developments, the Chinese wind industry appeared unaffected by the global financial crisis, according to industry observers.
By 2009 China had total installed windpower capacity up to 26 GW.[19] China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country’s economy.
As of 2010, China has become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, surpassing Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the United States. The initial future target set by the Chinese government was 10 GW by 2010, but the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China had already reached 25.1 GW by the end of 2009.
In September, 2019, Norwegian energy firm Equinor and state-owned China Power International Holding (CPIH) announced their plan to cooperate in developing offshore wind in China and Europe. (Wikipedia)
Solar Power
China produces 63% of the world’s solar photovoltaics (PV). It has emerged as the world’s largest manufacturer as of June 2015.
Following the new incentive scheme of Golden Sun announced by the government in 2009, there are numerous recent developments and plans announced by industry players that became part of the milestones for solar industry and technology development in China, such as the new thin film solar plant developed by Anwell Technologies in the Henan province using its own proprietary solar technology. The agreement was signed by LDK for a 500 MW solar project in the desert, alongside First Solar and Ordos City. The effort to drive the renewable energy use in China was further assured after the speech of the Chinese President given at the UN climate summit on 22 September 2009 in New York, pledging that China would adopt plans to use 15% of its energy from renewable sources within a decade.
China has become a world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic technology, with its six biggest solar companies having a combined value of over $15 billion. Around 820 MW of solar PV were produced in China in 2007, second only to Japan
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India