How China is supercharging itself with renewable energy
China is heavily investing in renewable energy to meet its power requirements. As per a report by the state-owned China Electricity Council, the installed capacity of solar power is now twice the capacity of total coal-generated electricity and is growing at 33.7% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. Separately, the country is also installing the world's biggest wind turbine with a 16MW capacity.
Solar power's installed capacity climbed to 2.6 billion kW
As of the end of March this year, solar power generation in China stood at 430 million kW, comprising 42,522kW of photovoltaic and 670,000kW of solar thermal power. Meanwhile, grid-connected solar power's installed capacity rose to 2.6 billion kW, compared to 1.13 billion kW for coal-fired power generation, thereby doubling its figures. Every category of fuel—both renewables and fossil fuels—saw year-on-year installed capacity increases.
Figures are up for non-fossil fuel power generation
The generation capacity of non-fossil fuel power increased 15.9% YoY to 1.33 billion kW. Meanwhile, its total installed capacity climbed by 3% YoY to 50.5% of the total capacity (renewable and non-renewable). The figures for wind power generation stood at 380 million kW, a YoY growth of 11.7%. Of this, onshore and offshore power were 34,484 and 30.89 million kW, respectively.
Hydropower generation is facing problems
Between January and March 2023, hydropower generation across China fell to 203.5 billion kW, a YoY fall of 8.3%. This is because of ongoing droughts in southern parts of the country since last year, making the rivers dry.
A detailed look at China's new wind turbine
China is also betting heavily on wind energy. The China Three Gorges Corporation is currently installing the world's biggest wind turbine in the Liuao Peninsula of China's Fujian province. The 16MW turbine has a rotor diameter of 252 meters, a 146-meter high hub, and a swept area of roughly 50,000 square meters. It will generate 34.2kWh electricity per revolution and over 66GWh per year.
How much does the project cost?
The new turbine is part of the 400MW Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 offshore wind farm project built at a cost of CNY 6 billion (around $885 million). It will produce 1.6TWh of electricity every year and reduce emissions by 1.36 million tons annually.
