Renewables now account for over half of China's power generation capacity, reflecting continued advancements in clean energy as part of the country's green transition, an official said.
By the end of March, China's renewable capacity reached 1,585 GW, soaring 26% year on year, introduced Pan Huimin, deputy director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, at a press conference on April 29. That made up 52.9% of China's power mix.
Of all renewables, wind and solar capacity exceeded 1,100 GW by the end of the first quarter, Pan said. Specifically, 457 GW of wind capacity was grid-connected, a 22% rise YoY, while solar capacity reached 659 GW.
China's newly-added renewables capacity reached 63.67 GW in Q1, up 34% YoY. This was 92% of all newly installed capacity over the period.
Wind capacity additions, totaling 15.5 GW in Q1, included 14.81 GW of onshore and 0.69 GW of offshore. Solar capacity additions reached 45.74 GW of in Q1, up by 36% YoY, including 21.93 GW for centralized farms and 23.8 GW of distributed projects.
Meanwhile, China put another 1.81 GW of hydropower capacity into operation in Q1, including 0.21 GW of conventional and 1.6 GW of pumped storage. By the end of March, the clean power capacity totaled 423 GW, including 371 GW of conventional and 52 GW of pumped storage.
Additionally, China's newly installed biomass capacity was 0.63 GW in Q1, taking its total capacity to 44.77 GW by end-March, a 7% rise YoY.
China's renewable power generation totaled 687.5 TWh in Q1, constituting 30.7% of the nation's total power output. Wind and solar generation rose 25% YoY to 425.3 TWh, with wind power output growing 16% YoY to 263.6 TWh and solar power output up 42% YoY to 161.8 TWh.
During the same period, hydropower generation reached 210.2 TWh, up 2.2% YoY; biomass generation rose 6% YoY to 51.8 TWh.
According to a report from the IEA earlier this year, China is projected to remain the leader in the expansion of renewable energy in the upcoming years.
Between 2005-2010, China constructed 39% of the world's new renewable energy capacity. This figure increased to 47% in 2017-2022. The IEA anticipated this number will climb to 59% over 2023-2028.
The agency estimated that by 2028, nearly half of China's electricity will be produced from renewable sources, a significant increase from around 30% in 2022.
During this period leading up to 2028, China is expected to deploy four times more renewables than the EU and five times more than the US.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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