China

The Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, the source of China's three major rivers, has maintained high water quality, according to an environmental bulletin released this week in Xining in northwest China's Qinghai province.

China has announced a second wave of tax cuts for clean-energy cars, specifying 64 new energy-saving vehicles covered by the scheme, Xinhua reported yesterday.

Among the 131 power projects approved by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) from the first half of the year, wind power accounts for 95 percent, reported Securities Daily earlier this week.

Environment authorities in Beijing will no longer use the method of counting "blue sky days" as a gauge of air quality, which had been practiced for more than a decade. The city launched the "Defending the Blue Sky" project in 1998, when it had only 100 days of "blue skies." Beijing has used a five-grade classification of air quality on the basis of pollution indices, with grade I being the best and grade V the worst. Days with grade I or II air quality are considered "blue sky days."

China’s LDK Solar has won contracts to build three solar power farms in Gansu province with at least 600-MW of capacity. The company signed a three-year contract to supply and install 200-MW of its panels for a solar farm in Jayuguan City, a two-year, 200-MW deal in Zhangye City and a 200-MW agreement for a project in Jiuquan City, Xinyu.