中文
China has achieved a significant milestone in its transition to cleaner energy sources, with renewables surpassing thermal power installations for the first time, reaching 1.45 TW by the end of November 2023, according to data from the National Energy Administration (NEA).
It now accounts for more than half of the country's total installed power capacity, making it the largest source of electricity in power-intensive China.
Despite this, power generation from new energy sources remained lower than thermal power production, requiring more efforts to achieve the goal of producing over half of electricity from renewable energy.
Several provinces have witnessed their new energy installations surpass thermal power capacity.
As of April 30, 2023, installed power capacity in northwestern China's Gansu amounted to 70.70 GW, with that of renewables constituting 53.8% of the total, State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company said.
The planned target for Gansu's new energy capacity is to exceed 80 GW by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). Driven by the need to accelerate the construction of UHV outbound transmission channels due to limited intra-provincial demand, Gansu aims to have 25 inter-provincial power transmission lines by 2025, with an exchange capacity surpassing 50 GW and an annual outbound power transmission of over 100 TWh.
Northwestern China's Ningxia boasted 36 GW of installed new energy capacity by the end of 2023, with 21.36 GW from photovoltaic and 14.64 GW from wind.
Renewables exceeded 51% of the region's total power capacity, marking it the first province where renewable power generation exceeds electricity demand. The region has also maintained a new energy utilization rate of over 97% for five consecutive years.
Qinghai, another province in northwestern China, has achieved a significant milestone by having renewables contribute 68% to its total installed capacity, surpassing hydropower for the first time.
As of the end of 2023, Qinghai's installed power capacity totaled 54.97 GW, with thermal power taking up 3.97 GW and new energy 37.46 GW. The province added 9.81 GW of clean energy capacity last year, up 23.77% year on year.
In northeastern China's Jilin, the new energy installations stood at 18.56 GW in 2023, including 12.68 GW of wind power, 4.54 GW of solar, and 1.34 GW of biomass, which accounted for 40.4% of the province's total capacity, surpassing coal-fired power to become the largest source, local energy bureau said.
The utilization rate of new energy capacity has remained above 95% for a five-year streak. In 2023, Jilin's new energy electricity consumption increased by 39.1% or 5.3 TWh on the year.
In 2023, northern China's Hebei achieved a significant milestone in both renewable energy installations and power generation accounting for over 50% of the total, emerging as the first in the country.
The annual electricity output from new energy sources reached 82 TWh, a 14.7% year-on-year rise, with new energy at 51% of the total installed capacity.
However, despite these regional achievements in installed capacity, the overall electricity generation from renewables still hovered at a low level.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the cumulative national electricity generation was 8,073.2 TWh as of November 2023, with thermal power still accounting for nearly 70% at 5,617.8 TWh, posing challenges to the improvement of power output from renewables.
The challenges stem from the inherent characteristics of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, which are intermittent, volatile, and random, leading to a contradiction between real-time power supply and demand.
The national plan for the 14th Five-Year Period indicates China aims to double the capacity of wind and solar power generation before a further increase to exceed 1.2 TW by 2030.
The transition from a fossil fuel-dominated energy mix to a new energy supply and consumption system is a comprehensive transformation that faces multiple constraints. The NEA, along with relevant institutions and departments, will continue employing effective measures to promote the new system construction across policies, technology, and mechanisms.
(Writing by Riley Liang Editing by Emma Yang)
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