- No interest in dependence on Russian gas
- Olympic Games as pilot project for energy transition
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- Rumor: Patricia Flor to become German ambassador to Beijing
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The war in Ukraine has pushed the energy transition back to the top of Europe’s political agenda. Germany wants to invest more in “freedom energies” (German Minister of Finance Christian Lindner on renewables). The EU wants to move away from Russian gas. Will China move to fill this gap and become the main buyer of Russian energy raw materials?
There are indeed first rumors that Chinese state-owned enterprises could now buy into Gazprom and others. But China could hardly be interested in becoming dependent on Russian gas. The People’s Republic is striving for energy security, and that includes remaining relatively independent of foreign countries when it comes to energy raw materials. Energy security is one of the key issues at the National People’s Congress. More likely than a gas dependence on Russia, China will continue to rely on domestic coal to secure its power supply.
But the People’s Republic is also investing heavily in the expansion of renewable energies. Christiane Kuehl analyzes how the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games were used as a pilot project for the energy transition. At the venue in Zhangjiakou, a power grid was installed that is specifically tailored to renewable energies. A pumped-storage power plant was constructed to store surplus wind and solar power. Zhangjiakou could now serve as a blueprint for the further expansion of renewable energies. Perhaps European countries can learn a thing or two from this pilot project for their own energy transition?
Nico Beckert
Feature
Energy: Is China profiting from Russia’s war?
Over the first few days of the National People’s Congress (NPC), it once again became clear that energy security is currently more important to the political leadership than climate goals. Last year’s power crisis and rising prices for fossil energy raw materials in the wake of the Ukraine war are causing concern for China’s leaders. As a result, the key goal of energy policy is to secure the power supply. Oil and gas production, as well as coal mining, are to be expanded.
Xi Jinping reiterated in his speech at the People’s Congress that China’s energy transition will not happen overnight. The new must first be built before the old can be torn down, Xi said. Coal-fired power still accounts for a good 60 percent of the People’s Republic’s energy demand. As long as renewables or other energy sources such as gas and nuclear power cannot replace coal, Xi will not take any risks and will not accelerate the shutdown of coal-fired power plants. But what does that mean in practice? Is coal consumption in China about to increase even further to guarantee energy security?
Revival of coal power?
There is some indication that China will consume more coal in the short term. The NPC focused on economic growth. China is aiming for growth of “about 5.5 percent”. Xi Jinping’s re-election is coming up in the fall. So those in charge will pull out all the stops to ensure that growth figures reach or even exceed the envisioned figure by then. Surprisingly, the government has not set a goal for the reduction of power consumption per unit of economic growth for this year. Instead, Beijing wants to retain “appropriate flexibility”.
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