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As a clean, renewable energy source with low carbon content, geothermal energy has the advantages of wide resource availability coverage, low environmental impact, low operating costs, and high reliability. For the development and production of more sustainable energy, geothermal energy has become one of the key areas of development in many countries. Geothermal resources are abundant in China and mainly distributed in the eastern region where the energy demand is the highest; therefore, the resources have the advantage of local development and consumption, which can alleviate the mismatch between resource distribution and demand in China's eastern and western regions. However, the development of geothermal energy started relatively late in China and has confronted many difficulties. This paper summarizes the status of geothermal energy in China and analyzes the existing problems with respect to policies and regulations, technological development, financial investment, and environmental protection. Some policy recommendations are put forward for promoting geothermal energy in China. This paper argues that the period of the "13th Five-Year Plan" is the opportunity for geothermal energy development. With the attention increasing, a series of policies to promote the development and utilization of geothermal energy could be introduced, and this resource could experience scaled development in China. • A review of China's geothermal energy reserves and development status is proposed. • Related policies and regulations, development goals and trends of geothermal energy are summarized. • The main problems of geothermal energy development and utilization in China are analyzed. • The policy recommendations aimed to solve the problem are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inefficient utilization of clean energy and distorted pricing mechanism are the most critical problems that have hampered the reform of China's electric power industry for many years. A large number of clean energy generators have recently been constructed, but water spillage at hydroelectric facilities and wind curtailment persist due to integration challenges. The adjustment of electricity price has relied on executive orders of the Chinese government and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Distorted prices that are not derived from a market economy have seriously hampered the development of China's electricity market. Therefore, in recent years, the Chinese government has issued a number of reform measures concerning “direct power-purchase for large users”. The main idea of this pricing mechanism is to form direct negotiations between large users and generators to determine the electricity price. To a certain extent, this pricing mechanism is conducive to the electricity market reform in China. However, the coordination between clean energy generation and thermal power generation under the policy of “direct power-purchase for large users” has become the key issue in China's electric power industry. This paper summarizes the policies of “direct power-purchase for large users” in different provinces in China. The electricity market in Yunnan, for which the contradiction between thermal power generation and hydropower generation is increasingly severe, is the focus of the research. At last, a feasible electricity market scheme has been derived to coordinate thermal power generation and hydropower generation. This scheme has considerable theoretical and practical significance to the future of China's electricity market reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of private sector participation on industrial performance of urban water supply by using panel data for 35 major cities in China over the period 1998 to 2008. We find that the introduction of private sector participation is significantly correlated with improvement in integrated production capacity and water coverage rate, but not correlated with the investment in fixed assets. Private sector participation has a positive impact on the integrated production capacity in the developed eastern cities and contributes to narrowing the gap of water coverage rate between the less developed central and western cities and the more developed eastern cities. We also find that the participation of foreign companies, but not domestic private companies, significantly improves water industry performance. The research sheds some light on the importance of private participation in urban water markets. However, the performance of domestic private firms in urban water supply still needs be improved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]