BEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) - China is aiming to produce 4
million tonnes of ethanol by 2020, doubling output from the
current level, even as it keeps tight control over the use of
food grains to make the biofuel, a government plan showed on
Monday.

The world's largest energy consumer plans to raise the

non-fossil fuel portion of primary energy consumption to 15
percent from 12 percent by the end of its current five-year plan
in 2020.

But while other forms of renewable energy such as wind and
solar have expanded rapidly in recent years, the country has
struggled to meet its targets for agricultural energy production
amid concerns over food security and a lack of large-scale
collection of biomass raw materials, such as corn stalks.

China currently produces 2.1 million tonnes of ethanol a
year, despite targetting production capacity of 4 million tonnes
in its previous five-year plan that ended in 2015.

It reiterated the 4 million-tonne goal in its new five-year
plan to 2020, published by the National Energy Administration.

China is also aiming for 15 gigawatts (GW) of installed
biomass energy capacity by 2020, up from 10 GW currently, after
failing to reach a previous target of 13 GW in 2015.

The plan called for the "promotion and application of fuel
ethanol" as well as "vigorous development of fibre ethanol",
such as ethanol made from cellulosic fibre, which uses the
non-edible parts of plants.

However it also acknowledged that there has not yet been any
breakthroughs in cellulosic fuel.

Ethanol made from cassava and other non-grain sources should
see "appropriate development", while that from food sources
should be controlled, except in cases where crops are unfit for human consumption.