GEM Report: China’s under-construction wind and solar power capacity accounts for two-thirds of the global total.
Release time:
2024-07-13
According to a recent monitoring report released by the Global Energy Monitor (GEM), China’s installed capacity of utility-scale wind and photovoltaic power projects under construction—counting only projects with capacities of 20 MW or more—accounts for two-thirds of the global total.
A recent monitoring report released by the Global Energy Monitoring Agency (GEM) shows that... China’s installed capacity of utility-scale wind and photovoltaic power projects under construction (counting only projects above 20 MW) accounts for two-thirds of the global total.
According to the report, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power projects currently under construction in China has reached 339 GW. Of this, 180 GW is dedicated to solar photovoltaic power generation, and 159 GW is allocated to wind power projects. The installed capacity of renewable energy projects under construction in China is eight times that of the United States, which ranks second (40 GW).
The total installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic projects currently under construction in China accounts for one-third of the country’s total planned solar and wind power capacity. By comparison, the average proportion of completed projects worldwide is only 7%.
Over the past year, China’s newly installed solar power capacity exceeded the total new solar capacity added over the previous three years combined—and was even greater than the combined new solar capacity installed by all other countries worldwide in 2023.
In 2022, China’s installed capacity of solar power generation surpassed its installed capacity of wind power for the first time, largely due to the rapid development of distributed solar energy in China. Since 2021, the growth rate of China’s distributed solar power generation has outpaced that of centralized projects, and its installed capacity now accounts for 41% of the country’s total solar power generation capacity.
Last year, China’s newly installed wind power capacity also doubled year-on-year. As the central government has stopped providing subsidies for the grid-connected electricity prices of newly approved wind power projects, China's wind power development experienced a brief slowdown in 2022 but rebounded in 2023.
As for the large-scale utility-scale solar and wind power projects that are planned but have not yet entered the construction phase, as well as those already announced for construction, their combined installed capacities are 38.7 GW and 33.6 GW, respectively. This includes the second and third batches of “Large-Scale Wind and Solar Power Bases,” whose combined installed capacity reaches 50.3 GW and are expected to be connected to the grid between 2025 and 2030. The first batch of large-scale wind and solar bases was planned in 2021, with projects distributed across 19 provincial regions. Most of these projects have already begun operations as scheduled in 2023, and their combined installed capacity accounts for one-third of the nation’s newly added generating capacity last year, laying a solid foundation for the success of the second and third batches of projects.
GEM data shows that, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Gansu have the largest installed wind power capacity in China. The six provincial-level administrative regions account for 43% of China's total installed wind power capacity.
Although the distribution of onshore wind power capacity across provinces and regions has not changed significantly, Offshore wind power is experiencing rapid growth in some regions. As last year, Jiangsu continues to lead the nation. In September 2023, a wind turbine with a single-unit capacity of 16 MW was put into operation at the Pingtan Offshore Wind Farm in Fujian. Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Hainan are expected to enter a period of rapid growth in offshore wind power. This trend will reshape the ranking of provincial-level administrative regions across the country in terms of offshore wind power. Currently ranked first, Jiangsu, could be overtaken within the next five years.
Looking ahead, if all large-scale utility-scale solar and wind power projects planned to be connected to the grid by the end of 2024 are completed on schedule, China will easily achieve the goal it announced to the world six years ahead of schedule. —namely, by 2030, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power will reach over 1.2 billion kilowatts. This is also one year earlier than the target date GEM had forecast last year.
Although China did not sign the initiative to triple global renewable energy capacity at COP28, it explicitly expressed its support for this initiative in the subsequent China-U.S. joint “Sunshine Country Declaration.” And plans are in place to significantly accelerate the deployment of renewable energy from now until 2030, building on the 934 GW level achieved in 2020. This means that if China adds 200 GW of new wind and solar capacity each year starting from now—this is the target set for 2024—even if no new hydropower capacity is added over the next ten years, by 2030, China could still triple its total installed capacity of renewable energy.
Although China has made remarkable progress in installing new energy capacity, it also faces a significant challenge: how to integrate an unprecedented volume of renewable energy generation into the power grid—designed around coal-fired power—and transmit the additional electricity to regions that need it. Despite the rapid growth in China’s installed energy storage capacity, the power grid still heavily relies on coal power to balance the volatility of renewable energy sources.
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