Beijing, Jan. 26: The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched an initiative to boost the development of solar energy technology, in a bid to turn it into a major energy source in China by 2050.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted a CAS official as saying that the academy had organized academicians and experts to make an action plan and will set up a platform to support scientific innovations involving solar energy.

The plan will be carried out in three phases, including "distributed utilization" by 2015, "alternative utilization" by 2025 and "large-scale utilization" by 2035, respectively," the official said.

CAS experts are of the view that China has a big potential for solar energy development.

The duration of sunshine for two-thirds of its territory is more than 2,200 hours a year. It also has vast desertareas, where solar energy could be "harvested", they said, adding that the use of solar energy could effectively reduce the discharge of green-house gases.

The United States, Japan and European countries began to develop solar energy in the 1970s. Government investment has greatly promoted solar energy research and development, especially in Japan, Germany and Australia.

CAS''s advanced energy scientific and technological innovation center has invited experts and scholars to carry out investigation and research on China''s energy industry. They have said that lowering the costs for using solar energy would be the key for stepping up the use of this renewable energy in China.(ANI)