Lighting up the Last 5M Powerless Homes

China held a national meeting on energy supplies in rural areas in July 2011, the first such meeting in nearly 30 years. The meeting announced that in the coming five years China will lift the last five million people without access to electricity out of the darkness by expanding grid coverage and exploring renewable energy resources. Meanwhile China will accelerate upgrading its power infrastructures in the countryside to eventually bring the power rate on par with that in towns and cities. In the coming five years more green energy demonstration counties will be established, pushing the number to 200 by 2015. According to Liu Tienan, head of the National Energy Administration, China has already invested over RMB 527 billion in the construction and renovation of power grids in rural areas, significantly lowering power price in these regions. So far 40 million rural families use biogas and produce 14 billion cubic meters of this clean energy every year. And biomass power plants fueled by forestry and farming residues have been built for rural residents, generating more than 10 billion KWH annually, disposing of 10 million tons of forestry and farming waste, and bringing in RMB 3 billion of extra income to farmers. Solar energy use and household appliances are more common among rural families: about 50 million square meters of solar heaters are in operation and the floorage of solar houses tops 17 million square meters. More than 1.4 million solar cookers are also in use.