Most of China’s energy investments belong to the “sun”

The power capacity of China, which plays a leading role in the field of renewable energy in the world, increased to 2,739 gigawatts at the end of July, while the sun took the lion’s share of energy investments with 56 percent this anus.

According to data compiled from international reports, China, which aims to maximize its carbon emissions by 2030 and reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, sees renewable energy sources as the key to getting rid of environmental pollution.

With the goal of reducing carbon emissions by increasing the role of renewable energy in electricity consumption, the country aims to increase its installed solar and wind power to 1,200 gigawatts by 2030.

THE CHINA RENEWABLE ENERGY ADVENTURE

The country’s first experimental wind farm was built in 1986 in Shandong province, which began its massive production and investment moves with modest steps. The Chinese government put the wind power plant industrialization program on its agenda in 1993 and decided to purchase the electricity produced by wind power plants when the program was launched in 1994.

The first target for wind farms was set under the program launched in 1997 by China’s State Planning Commission, now known as the National Development and Reform Commission.

In the early 2000s, the Chinese government focused on producing 70 percent of the wind turbines, which were supplied through deals with European and American companies, in the first stage. In this context, in 2001 it was decided to put the first 1,000 megawatt wind power plant into operation, but a power of 404 megawatts could be used.

With the participation of national turbines in the wind energy sector, the wind power installed in the country reached 2,559 megawatts at the end of 2005.

To accelerate the growth momentum of the renewable energy sector, the government enacted the Renewable Energy Law in 2006, strengthening the operation and development of the wind energy sector with the legal framework.

Installed wind capacity reached 8 gigawatts in 2008 and domestic companies that produce wind turbines dominate half of the country’s market.

In this period, the country’s installed power capacity was 793 gigawatts, of which 601 gigawatts were thermal power plants, 172 gigawatts were hydroelectric power plants, 8.9 gigawatts were nuclear power plants, and the rest were other resources.

SOLAR INVESTMENTS INSTALLED IN 2006

On the other hand, in 2006 the first solar power plant with an installed capacity of 80 megawatts was registered in the country. After the investments of the following years, the total installed solar power reached 500 megawatts in 2010 and 3 gigawatts in 2011.

The Chinese government accelerated its investments in wind and solar energy, which in these years were at a very low level compared to thermal and hydroelectric power plants.

The total capacity in wind, solar and hydroelectric power was 492 gigawatts in 2015, which represents 32.5 percent of the installed power.

According to data from the China National Energy Administration, the installed capacity in renewable energy reached 728 gigawatts in 2018, 794 gigawatts in 2019, 934 gigawatts in 2020, 1,063 gigawatts in 2021, and 1,213 gigawatts in 2022.

On the other hand, the installed power in the country reached 2,739 gigawatts with an increase of 172.1 gigawatts from this year. While most of the increase was from the sun at 56 percent, wind power was 15 percent and hydropower was 3 percent. (AA)