China has roughly twice the amount of solar and wind power under construction as compared to the rest of the world combined, a report has claimed.
According to a research published by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) on Thursday, China has 180 Gigawatts (GW) of utility-solar power and 150GW of wind power under construction -- in all, 339GW, which is way more than the US' 40 GW under construction.
In comparison, its arch competitor, India, as of 2022, had projections of about 60 GW of solar, wind, and hybrid sources of energy under construction, according to the country's Central Electrical Authority.
The study only considered solar farms with a capacity of 20MW or more, thus the total volume of solar power in China will be much higher, as small-scale solar farms in the country are about at 40 per cent.
China has seen a rise in renewables in recent years with strong support from the government. Its President Xi Jinping has stressed the need for new quality productive forces, and strengthening green manufacturing.
The study found that in March 2023 and 2024, China set up more solar plants than it had in the previous three years combined -- more than the rest of the world put together.
By the end of 2024, the country will have 1,200GW of installed solar capacity, it claimed.
"The unabated wave of construction guarantees that China will continue leading in wind and solar installation in the near future, far ahead of the rest of the world," the report said.
However, if China wants to reach the target of reducing the carbon intensity of the economy by 18 per cent, a crucial factor in reducing emissions, it will still need more renewable capacity, analysts say.
A previous study showed that China will need to install between 1,600GW and 1,800GW of wind and solar energy by 2030 to reach its desired target of producing 25 per cent of all energy from non-fossil sources. Between 2020 and 2023, only 30 per cent of its growth in energy is covered by renewable sources, although the target was 50 per cent.
"It is obviously important for China to keep on adding more renewable energy to meet its targets," Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Policy Institute in Washington DC told The Guardian.
"But it’s not as simple as you just keep building and it will be solved, there is no sign that the country is trying to steer away from its coal consumption," he said.
There is an increase in the consumption of coal from an average of 0.5 per cent a year to 3.8 per cent a year between two time periods, as per the previous analysis of GEM and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a think tank.
China's power grid is highly dependent on coal which also helps in GDP's figure.
To increase the volume of clean energy in solar and wind farms, the country needs better storage and grid flexibility.
The Chinese government invested $11 billion in grid-connected batteries in 2023, an increase of 364 per cent from the previous year.
Surpassing the global construction rate of 7 per cent, China has reached one-third of the construction stage i.e. 339GW of wind and solar.
"China’s renewable energy pipeline is two times larger than the rest of the world. But the question we should increasingly ask ourselves is how come the rest of the world is so slow?" Shuo said.
As of January 2024, India's total installed renewable capacity is 135.116 GW, with the contribution of with wind power, small hydropower, biomass, and waste-to-energy.
Solar and wind power capacities combined are 88.28 per cent and solar power alone comprises a 55 per cent share of the country’s total renewable installed capacity.
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