- Executives at the BloombergNEF Summit in Shanghai urged China to increase investment in emerging clean energy technologies like hydrogen, storage, and sustainable aviation fuel.
- China is encouraged to adopt market-based electricity pricing models like those in Europe and California to manage renewable energy surpluses better and boost investor incentives.
At the BloombergNEF Summit in Shanghai, executives emphasised the need for China to ramp up investment in next-generation clean energy technologies, including energy storage, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel. While the country has already made significant strides in renewable energy and electric vehicles, putting it on track to peak emissions well before its 2030 target, the focus is now shifting to emerging sectors that still need scaling and cost reduction.
Alan Chan Ying-lung, Chief Investment Officer at Hong Kong & China Gas Co. (Towngas), highlighted the importance of directing investments toward areas with unmet demand rather than oversaturated sectors like solar and wind power, which have already received substantial funding. Towngas is focusing on sustainable aviation fuel, using biofuels to decarbonize the aviation sector, which is harder to decarbonize.
“The capital needs to be directed to where there is still unmet demand, not to industries that are already fully invested,” Chan said during the panel discussion. “There’s still a significant gap that needs to be filled.”
The rapid expansion of renewable energy has also created challenges for China’s electricity grid, which struggles with an excess of solar power during the day that vanishes when the sun sets. While China has been investing heavily in energy storage solutions, Lu Chuan, Chairman of solar manufacturer Astronergy (Chint New Energy Technology Co.), called for adopting market-based principles to provide greater incentives for investors.
He suggested that China should look to mature electricity markets like those in Europe and California, where time-of-day price differences encourage better grid management and energy consumption.
“Market-based prices overseas create clear policies,” Lu noted. “China should learn from Western models to enhance consumption.”
Looking beyond China, the country is also expected to play a key role in the expansion of Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power Co. Lyu Yunhe, the company’s head of China operations, shared that ACWA Power plans to invest US$50 billion by 2030 to develop 20 gigawatts of renewable energy and produce 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually. The company is seeking to collaborate with Chinese state-owned enterprises to acquire clean power assets in the country.