China Aims to Spend at Least $360 Billion on Renewable Energy by 2020

China intends to spend more than $360 billion through 2020 on renewable power sources like solar and wind, the government’s energy agency said on Thursday.

The country’s National Energy Administration laid out a plan to dominate one of the world’s fastest-growing industries, just at a time when the United States is set to take the opposite tack as Donald J. Trump, a climate-change doubter, prepares to assume the presidency.

Mass. Senate to tackle energy bill

A multi-faceted energy bill aimed at reining in electricity costs in Massachusetts while also continuing to promote growth in renewable power sources is set for debate at the Statehouse.

Senate President Therese Murray has scheduled the bill for a vote on Thursday.

The measure, endorsed last week by a legislative committee, requires competitive bidding for long-term renewable energy contracts and would require that utilities purchase at least 7 percent of their total power supply from renewable sources, up from the current 3 percent.

CA: Dams would get green credit in bill

The debate over whether large dams are renewable power sources took a twist Monday.

Two Modesto-area lawmakers said utilities should get at least some credit for these plants under the state's mandate for at least 33 percent renewables by 2020.

The 2011 law setting the mandate excluded hydro plants with a capacity of 30 or more megawatts. That cut out Don Pedro Reservoir, the cheapest source by far for the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts.

State Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, and Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, failed in their bid last year to get large hydro counted.

They have returned with a measure, Senate Bill 971, that would subtract a utility's hydro output from the total against which the renewable percentage is applied.