China noticed monumental photo voltaic and wind development in 2024, based on knowledge launched in the present day by its Nationwide Power Administration (NEA).
China’s put in capability shot up by 14.6% final yr, now surpassing 3,348 gigawatts (GW).
Photo voltaic noticed the largest leap, with a record-breaking 45.2% enhance (+277 GW), reaching 887 GW total. Wind energy additionally noticed stable development, climbing 18% (+80 GW) to nearly 521 GW.
In 2020, President Xi Jinping set a aim of at the very least 1,200 GW of photo voltaic and wind capability by 2030. China met that concentrate on final yr – almost six years forward of schedule – based on NEA knowledge from August.
The nation has additionally constructed almost twice as a lot wind and photo voltaic as each different nation mixed.
Hydropower rose 3.2% to just about 436 GW, and nuclear ticked up 6.9% to succeed in near 61 GW. In the meantime, thermal capability grew by 3.8% to over 1,444 GW. (The NEA doesn’t break down what powers the thermal capability, however my educated guess is usually fossil fuels.)
On the era aspect, China, the world’s largest electrical energy producer, produced 9,418 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electrical energy in 2024 – a 4.6% enhance in comparison with the yr earlier than. Breaking it down, thermal energy era was up 1.5%, hydropower and wind each grew by 11%, and photo voltaic led the pack once more with a large 28% enhance. Electrical energy consumption additionally noticed important development, leaping 6.8% to 9,852 TWh in 2024.
China is much forward of everybody else with renewable power installations, however coal nonetheless performs an enormous function within the nation’s power combine. That stated, there are indicators it is perhaps beginning to kick its coal behavior. Coal energy permits dropped by a large 83% in H1 2024 in comparison with H1 2023, and no new coal-based steelmaking tasks had been accredited throughout that point.
Electrek’s Take
No. 1 polluter, China, was already far forward of the No. 2 polluter, the US, within the transition to renewables. However with Donald Trump pulling the US out of the Paris Settlement (becoming a member of simply Iran, Libya, and Yemen) once more, halting wind mission allowing and leasing, and issuing a collection of silly government orders favoring fossil fuels and placing obstacles within the profitable renewable sector’s method, it seems like China is poised to go away the US even additional within the mud.
Learn extra: The US’s largest offshore wind farm is on funds and on time
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