China noticed monumental photo voltaic and wind progress in 2024, in response to information launched as we speak by its Nationwide Vitality Administration (NEA).
China’s put in capability shot up by 14.6% final 12 months, now surpassing 3,348 gigawatts (GW).
Photo voltaic noticed the largest leap, with a record-breaking 45.2% improve (+277 GW), attaining 887 GW total. Wind energy additionally noticed stable progress, climbing 18% (+80 GW) to nearly 521 GW.
In 2020, President Xi Jinping set a objective of at the least 1,200 GW of photo voltaic and wind capability by 2030. China met that concentrate on final 12 months – almost six years forward of schedule – in response to NEA information 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 almost 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 generally fossil fuels.)
On the era facet, China, the world’s largest electrical energy producer, produced 9,418 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electrical energy in 2024 – a 4.6% improve in comparison with the 12 months 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 an enormous 28% increase. Electrical energy consumption additionally noticed important progress, leaping 6.8% to 9,852 TWh in 2024.
China is much forward of everybody else with renewable vitality installations, however coal nonetheless performs a giant function within the nation’s vitality combine. That mentioned, there are indicators it is likely to be beginning to kick its coal behavior. Coal energy permits dropped by an enormous 83% in H1 2024 in comparison with H1 2023, and no new coal-based steelmaking initiatives have been authorized 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 undertaking allowing and leasing, and issuing a collection of silly government orders favoring fossil fuels and placing obstacles within the profitable renewable sector’s manner, it appears to be like like China is poised to depart 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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