China, the world’s largest coal producer and user, issued an energy development plan to cap coal consumption at 4.2 billion tonnes by 2020, a week after it announced the limit on carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.<br /> <br /> This represents a 16.3% increase from 3.61 billion tonnes of coal consumption in 2013 announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) earlier this year. The data is not stated in the standard coal equivalent, analysts said.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> China produced 3.68 billion tonnes of coal last year, while net coal imports reached 320 million tonnes. The country had more than 300 million tonnes of coal stocks by the end of 2013.<br /> <br /> Under the plan issued by the State Council on November 19, China is set to limit primary energy consumption at 4.8 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent per year by 2020, up 28% from 3.75 billion tonnes in 2013, with an annual compound growth of 3.59%.<br /> <br /> The share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix will rise to 15% by 2020 from 9.8% in 2013, while coal use will be capped at 62%, down from 66% in 2013, said the plan.<br /> <br /> China aims to produce 85% of its energy consumption by 2020, or about 4.2 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent.<br /> <br /> To meet the targets, coal consumption at newly constructed thermal power plants must be lower than 300 g/kWh, and trans-regional ultra-high voltage power transmission lines will be further developed, the State Council said.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, inefficient and outdated boilers will be replaced with energy-efficient ones, and urban green buildings will account for 50% of new constructions by 2020.<br /> <br /> Through measures like elimination of outdated energy-intensive industrial capacities and expansion of trans-regional power transmission, coal consumption in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong is forecast to drop 100 million tonnes from 2012 levels, according to the plan.<br /> <br /> And, coal consumption at the Yangtze River and Pearl River delta is forecast to register negative growth, it said.<br /> <br /> The government will focus on the development of 14 large coal production bases, which are expected to contribute 95% of the nation’s total output by 2020.<br /> <br /> It will also build more power plants near mines in the west and north of the country, and then use long distance transmission lines to carry electricity to the more populated east and south of the country.<br /> <br /> The plan also said it boost railway construction, especially the key coal-dedicated rail line from western Inner Mongolia to Jiangxi in central China, aiming to achieve 3 billion tonnes of rail coal capacity by 2020.<br /> <br /> Installed capacities for hydropower, wind power, and solar power are expected to be 0.35 TW, 0.2 TW and 0.1 TW by 2020, while 50 million tonnes of standard coal equivalent of geothermal power will be utilized.<br /> <br /> <p> Clean energy from unconventional sources will be systematically explored and utilized. By 2020, per annum shale gas output is expected to exceed 30 billion cubic meters and coalbed methane output to reach 30 billion cubic meters per year. </p> <p style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/upfiles/news/image/20141121/20141121165048_5269.jpg" alt="" /> </p>