Prospects, obstacles and solutions of biomass power industry in China.

Biomass power is one of the most important renewable energy sources in China. In order to provide a reference for China's biomass power planning, this paper builds a power sector-planning model using the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP). The results show that in the base scenario, the installed capacity of agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid waste and biogas will increase to 22350 MW, 21150 MW, and 4900 MW, respectively by 2030. From the point of view of total volume, biomass supply is not a constraining factor for biomass power source. However, there are some social and economic factors that impede the development of the biomass power industry, some of which may not be addressed in the short term. Therefore, the development of the biomass power industry in China is a long-term process. Some policy suggestions were proposed, including reasonable planning and more subsidies for biomass supply value chain. • An optimal power-planning model focused on bio-energy in China was developed. • Agricultural and forestry power, waste power and biogas power were all analyzed. • Social and economic factors that impede biomass power were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]