Tim Daiss

Opinion | China must not let coal habit stain its renewable energy record

Beijing should resist justifying more coal power as the state grid struggles to deal with the surge in renewable energy

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Tim Daiss

Published: 5:30am, 19 Aug 2024Updated: 9:36am, 19 Aug 2024

In what can only be called a major win for China, its renewable energy capacity is setting records. Wind and solar power are expected to account for more than 40 per cent of the country’s installed power generation capacity by the end of the year. Better yet, China’s wind and solar power capacity exceeded that of its much-criticised coal-fired power for the first time during the first half of the year.

The China Electricity Council expects the nation to add 300 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power capacity to the grid this year, an increase of 7GW from the year before. A country’s electrical grid includes power stations, substations to regulate voltage and transmission lines to carry the power over long distances. The last stage consists of power distribution to industrial and residential end users.

More growth is on the horizon. The Paris-based International Energy Agency predicts that China’s capacity for renewable electricity will grow threefold over the next five years compared to the previous five, making up some 56 per cent of renewable energy growth worldwide. Even more remarkable, from 2023 to 2028, China is expected to have a renewable energy capacity nearly four times more than that of the European Union, and five times more than the United States.

China’s solar and wind power development, along with nuclear and hydropower, could drive its installed capacity of non-fossil-fuel electricity sources to 57.5 per cent of the energy mix by the end of the year, up from 53.9 per cent last year, the China Electricity Council report added.

While this is good news for the embattled energy sector, which has received perhaps an inordinate share of global criticism over its reliance on fossil fuel, China appears to be a victim of its own success.

Its renewable energy capacity has grown so much over the past few years that its grid is unable to accommodate the extra power. This leads to grid curtailment, threatens the growth of renewable energy and could justify continuing with coal-fired power projects.

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