The strategy for China's rural energy development

Abstract

This paper presents a strategy for China's rural energy development at the turn of this century. It proposes the establishment of a three-dimensional and open system of rural energy engineering proceeding from an analysis of China's rural energy resources, the state of rural development, the supply of energy in the countryside and other exogenous variables. The system should consist of lateral and vertical networks of energy supply encompassing all rural areas, i ts mainsray being small hydroelectric power stations, small coal mines and biogas pits on farms. By using the word ‘mainstay’, the author does not intens to describe these as being able to satisfy all energy demands and, instead, means to regard them as the majot sources of energy for China's countryside since they are reliable and easy to set up and require short development cycles while great in sheer numbers. The networks of energy supply cover solar energy and wind power as well as commodity energy supplied by the State. Nevertheless, it will be difficult to significantly raise the proportion of commodity energy to the total rural energy consumption by the end of this century due to the limited scale of its production and the inadequate technical resources for developing new energy sources. This ‘mainstay’ described in this paper can, in an indirect manner, help improve the country's ecological balance and boost the development of ecological energy.