On November 8, 2024, the **Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China** (hereinafter referred to as the **Energy Law**) was officially passed and will come into effect on **January 1, 2025**. This foundational and overarching legislation, which has been 18 years in the making, clarifies the development direction for China's green and low-carbon energy transition against the backdrop of the "carbon peak by 2030" and "carbon neutrality by 2060" goals, while providing systemic guarantees for energy security, green consumption, and technological innovation.
As a scientific instrument manufacturing enterprise, **PerfectLight Technology** recognizes that the implementation of the **Energy Law** not only provides direction for cutting-edge research in areas such as **photocatalysis** but also injects strong momentum into related scientific work. This will facilitate the transition of photocatalysis technology from laboratories to practical applications, contributing to the development of renewable energy and the green energy transition.
With the proposal of China’s dual-carbon goals, renewable energy has developed rapidly. As of the end of July 2024, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power reached 1.206 billion kilowatts, which is 2.25 times the capacity at the end of 2020, achieving the 1.2 billion kilowatts target six years ahead of schedule. This progress demonstrates the strong driving force of policies and technologies, though challenges such as land constraints and resource limitations remain for energy transition.
The **Energy Law** provides support at both institutional and technical levels. It explicitly proposes promoting **energy technology innovation** by establishing an innovation system led by national strategic scientific and technological forces, driven by enterprises, guided by the market, and deeply integrating production, education, and research. It prioritizes renewable energy development and utilization, hydrogen energy development, energy storage technology, and energy-saving technologies, which align closely with the research and application of technologies like photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis.
The **Energy Law** provides detailed regulations on renewable energy development by type, particularly focusing on **wind energy**, **solar energy**, and **biomass energy**. For instance, in wind and solar energy development and utilization, it emphasizes a combination of centralized and distributed approaches and supports the local development and utilization of **distributed wind power** and **photovoltaic power generation**. It also lays the legal foundation for business models such as local transactions for distributed power generation and microgrids. In addition, for **biomass energy development and utilization**, the law explicitly encourages the development of biomass power generation, clean biomass heating, bio-liquid fuels, and biogas based on local conditions, providing direction and confidence for biomass projects currently facing development challenges. These policies will significantly advance the application of photocatalysis research in practical scenarios.
Photocatalysis technology holds significant potential in renewable energy development, especially in solar-driven hydrogen production through water splitting, offering an efficient pathway for green hydrogen production. In recent years, significant progress has been made in photocatalytic hydrogen production technology. For example, Wang and Domen (2020) reported in Nature Reviews Materials that the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency (STH) of photocatalysis has increased from marginal gains in laboratory stages to over 10%, nearing the threshold for practical applications. Additionally, Chinese scholars Li et al. (2022) developed a new photocatalyst reported in Science, improving water-splitting hydrogen production efficiency by over 30%. These achievements lay the foundation for the industrial application of photocatalysis technology and provide technical support for the efficient utilization of renewable energy.
The **Energy Law** proposes promoting energy substitution and green energy consumption. Technologies like photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis play an important role in replacing fossil fuels and promoting low-carbon energy structures. For example, **photocatalytic methane conversion** utilizes solar energy to activate methane under mild conditions, providing a sustainable solution for chemical synthesis. Additionally, photocatalysis demonstrates great potential in **extracting hydrogen and producing value-added chemicals** from biomass under mild conditions. Photoelectrocatalysis, which drives chemical reactions using light and electrical energy, also shows enormous potential in environmental protection, energy conversion, and industrial chemistry. It can **reduce CO₂ emissions**, **split water to produce hydrogen**, and enable **green chemical synthesis**, offering new pathways for addressing energy and environmental challenges.
As a leading domestic scientific instrument enterprise, **PerfectLight** is dedicated to providing diversified solutions for various scientific laboratories, primarily covering applications such as **photocatalysis**, **photoelectrocatalysis**, **photothermal catalysis**, **thermal catalysis**, and **electrocatalysis**. With a rich and diverse product portfolio, PerfectLight continues to empower researchers, not only driving advancements and breakthroughs in the scientific field but also playing a key role in supporting China’s green energy transformation and high-quality economic development.
The issuance of the **Energy Law** injects strong momentum into the development of technologies such as photocatalysis. **PerfectLight** will continue to follow national policy directions and collaborate with universities and research institutions to promote energy technological innovation. Moving forward, PerfectLight will persist in providing high-quality equipment and specialized services, empowering researchers to achieve breakthroughs in energy science and technology innovation and ushering in the era of green energy together!