Renewable energy development in China

Xunpeng Shi, Principal Research Fellow, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney

1. China is now the world leader in installed capacities of hydro, solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. China currently accounts for 28.5 percent of the global hydroelectricity generation, 32.8 percent and 31.9 percent of global solar PV and wind power installed capacity, respectively.[1] 

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2. In 2017 China added:

• 7.3 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower capacity (excluding pumped storage) accounting for 38 percent of new global installations, taking total capacity to 312.7 GW.[2]
• 53.1 GW of solar PV capacity, accounting for 54 percent of new global installations, taking total capacity to 131.1 GW.[3]
• 19.7 GW of wind capacity, accounting for 38 percent of new global installations,[4]  taking total capacity to 198 GW.[5]

3. In 2017 renewable energy comprised 26.4 percent of China’s total power generation.[6]  This was on par with the global average of 26.5 percent and up from 20.2 percent five years ago.[7] In comparison, generation from renewables comprised 16.9 percent of Australia’s total power generation.[8]

4. In 2017 electric vehicle (EV) sales in China increased by 69 percent to 0.6 million units, accounting for 50 percent of the global total.[9]

• For the first half of 2018, 50 percent of global plug-in passenger cars and 70 percent of global electric commercial vehicles were sold in China.[10] 

5. There are around 386,000 electric buses on the world’s roads. Ninety-nine percent of these are in China.[11] The city of Shenzhen has electrified its entire fleet of 16,359 public buses.[12]

6. The rapid development of renewable energy in China has exceeded the capacity of existing grids in some regions, forcing curtailment.[13] But progress is being made in building new infrastructure and giving renewable energy higher preference in dispatch. In 2017 curtailment for solar PV was around six percent, down 4.3 percentage points compared with the previous year. Curtailment for wind power was reduced to 12 percent, down from 17 percent.[14]

7. On December 19 2017 China launched a three-year plan to host the world’s largest emissions trading scheme.[15] Despite only covering the power generation sector initially, China’s carbon market will total 3.5 billion tonnes, almost double the European Union’s carbon market, currently the world’s largest.[16] The first phase in China’s plan focuses on infrastructure construction. The second will be on system testing.  Nation-wide trading is expected to start in 2020.[17]

Author

Dr Xunpeng Shi, Principal Research Fellow, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney