Energy assessment in rural regions of China with various scenarios: Historical–to–futuristic

Chengying Yang, Mingming Li and Dianyi Zhou

Energy, 2024, vol. 302, issue C

Abstract: Approximately 172 million rural households in China in 2022, will still rely on traditional biofuels instead of electricity. This study explores the feasibility of achieving rural electrification in China utilization various Energy origins and assesses its potential impact on climate change mitigation. To do so, we employ the Regional Energy Model (REM) to formulate hypotheses for rural power distribution. Covering the era from 2020 until 2050. We evaluate consequences in terms of greenhouse gas discharges, principal energy consumption, associated expenses by comparing these possibilities with a Business-as-Usual (BU) scenario. Our findings reveal that diesel-based arrangements tend to produce ‘the maximum Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions, trailed by network-based solutions. Electrification focused on renewable energy-driven applications has the potential to reduce total CO2 emissions by up to 97 % and primary energy consumption by 43 % in 2050 compared to the BU scenario. We also find that electrification through decentralized diesel systems tends to be the priciest choice. Rural electrification utilizing renewable energy emerges as a cost-effective choice when the majority of end-use applications rely on renewable energy sources. However, it becomes less economical than network expansions when electric end-user appliances are predominant. In summary, this study investigates the viability of renewable energy for rural power distribution and its role in climate change abatement in rural China, offering policy suggestions.

Keywords: Electrification; Renewable resources; Rural regions; Energy assessment; Regional energy model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224016670
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:302:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224016670

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.131894

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().