China's top economic planner on Saturday urged local authorities to take vigorous measures to ensure adequate supply and steady prices of thermal coal, which is used for power generation.
China's state planning agency has called on regions and enterprises to adopt "effective measures" to keep coal prices stable as its power utilities struggle with rising costs and the government wrestles with inflation.
With electricity generation increasing in 2010, China's major power producers saw their profits dwindling due to rising fuel prices, the International Finance News reported Friday.
China, the world's largest solar panel exporter, is likely to boast 10 gigawatts (gW) of solar power capacity by 2015 from the current 1 gW, doubling its existing target amid rising doubts about the safety of nuclear power.
China plans to raise the price of power generated from renewable sources over the next two years in order to stimulate clean energy investment, China's electricity regulator said on Thursday.
Japan's nuclear crisis at the stricken Fukushima power plant will lead China to adjust its own nuclear program to increase safety, but overall goals will stay unchanged, Beijing's chief climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said on Wednesday.
To capitalize on China's increasing demand for petrochemicals, ExxonMobil Chemical Co, a unit of the global oil giant ExxonMobil Corp, opened its $90-million Shanghai Technology Center on Wednesday.
Huaneng Power International Inc, a unit of China's biggest power producer, posted a 32 percent decline in profit last year, missing analysts' estimates, as the company paid more for coal to generate electricity.
China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd, the country's biggest shipping conglomerate by market value, said it has suspended its research into nuclear power as an alternative energy to replace fuel oil in vessels after Japan's nuclear incident.
China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Ltd) said on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with UK-based Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) for a one-third interest in three exploration areas in Uganda for $1.467 billion.
Installed wind power capacity in Inner Mongolia, China's leading builder of wind farms by region, will top 13 gigawatts (gW) by the end of this year, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing an executive with local power grid firm.
China was the leader in clean energy investment last year. The country spent $54.4 billion on clean energy development in 2010, according to statistics from Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent nonprofit group from the US.