China accounts for as much as 74% of all wind and solar projects currently under construction, Global Energy Monitor said in a new report, as cited by the Financial Times.
The country that is already home to the most sizable wind and solar generation capacity in the world, is in the process of building 510 GW more in utility-scale solar and wind capacity, the climate NGO said. The global total including China’s share stands at 689 GW.
China has been breaking record after record in both wind and solar as it seeks to diversify its energy supply away from imports. In May this year, the country boasted a record high amount of new solar installations for a single month, at 93 GW. These capacity additions for May were more than the solar panels installed in any other country in the world in the full year 2024.
“China is [ . . .] leading the world in global renewable energy build-out,” Global Energy Monitor said in its report. “It continues to add solar and wind power at a record pace.”
Yet even China’s wind and solar surge is not without problems. Right now, the biggest problem that the two industries are facing is Beijing’s decision that they are mature enough to try and compete in the market rather than relying on constant subsidies. So, the authorities are reducing the subsidy load for solar and onshore wind, although they are not removing them completely—yet.
For the full 2025, China could add some 246.5 GW of new solar capacity and 97.7 GW of wind capacity, according to Global Energy Monitor. At the end of the first quarter of the year, the country’s total capacity in these two segments was an impressive 1.5 TW. Be that as it may, China continued to build new coal-powered capacity as well, in recognition of the fact that baseload generation still very much matters, even in the world’s largest wind and solar market.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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