By David Stanway
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s wind and solar power generation capacity surged to 1,482 gigawatts by the end of March, exceeding fossil fuel-based thermal power capacity for the first time in its history, the country’s energy regulator said on Friday.
Though China is one of a small number of countries still commissioning new carbon-intensive coal-fired power, it has embarked on a rapid renewable power expansion programme, with new installations reaching record levels in recent years.
It set a goal to raise wind and solar capacity to 1,200 GW by 2030, and met the target six years early last year. Campaigners have urged Beijing to double the target.
Grid access remains a problem. While the share of renewable capacity in China’s power mix has risen, its share of power generation has not increased accordingly, with grid firms still prioritising electricity supplied by fossil fuel plants.
The National Energy Administration said on Friday that wind and solar accounted for 22.5% of the electricity delivered to consumers in the first quarter of this year, even though they make up more than half of total installed capacity.
Researchers with the French investment group Natixis said this year that waning overseas demand for China’s turbines and panels, driven in part by rising protectionism, had encouraged it to “front-load” new renewable energy capacity at home, even though its grids were not yet equipped to receive it. As a consequence, much of its wind and solar energy has been going to waste.
Though China has pledged to reduce its dependence on coal, the country started building another 99.5 GW of coal-fired power capacity in 2024. It says new coal-fired projects will provide “baseload” support for renewables, which partly rely on intermittent sources of energy.
China is the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter, and owns the largest fleet of coal-burning power plants in the world.
It has promised to reduce coal consumption over the 2026-2030 period, and aims to bring CO2 emissions to a peak before the end of the decade.
It has also pledged to the United Nations’ Paris Agreement to cut 2005 levels of carbon intensity – emissions generated per unit of GDP growth – by 65% before 2030.
It remains “badly off track” on the targets and newly commissioned coal plants could continue to “crowd out” clean energy, said Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute.
“After several years of slow progress, delivering China’s headline commitment under the Paris agreement will be difficult,” Myllyvirta said in a report published by Dialogue Earth on Thursday. (This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the analyst’s surname from ‘Myllivirta’ to ‘Myllyvirta’ in paragraphs 11 and 12)
(Reporting by David Stanway. Editing by Mark Potter)
