China has a tradition to use renewable energy resources, said Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Monday in Beijing at a seminar on the development and experience interchanges of renewable energy resources held by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), according to a People's Daily report today.

In recent years, China has made great progress in the utilization of renewable energy resources with the average growth rate per year exceeding 25 per cent. As a result, the country has become a nation with the fastest growth in the world's energy field.

It is introduced that by the end of 2004, the installed hydropower capacity reached to 110 million kilowatts. There are 43 wind-power generation fields in the country incorporating in power network with an installed capacity of 760,000 kilowatts; around 60,000-kilowatt solar-energy photovoltaic cells; solar water heater measuring 65 million square meters, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the world's total; and more than 11 million household biogas generating pits in rural areas, and more than 2,000 large- and medium-sized methane-generating projects with an annual capacity of about 5.5 billion cubic meters.

By People's Daily Online