- Gordon Dumoulin
China's renewable power expansion in 2021... not easy to grasp

๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ขโ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ 2021, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆโฆ
Wind power in China is booming, offshore wind saw a 16.9 gigawatt (GW) increase in capacity in 2021, larger than any other country added during the past five years combined. On top of that, China brought online an extra 30.67 GW of onshore wind energy last year.



Chinaโs solar power capacity reached 306 GW by the end of last year with a record 54.9 GW added just in 2021. In total, ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฑ ๐๐ช ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ฒ.๐ณ% ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฎโ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐.
The renewable energy capacity is scheduled to increase to ๐ญ,๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ช ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฌ. Yet, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China will meet this target four years earlier - if current speeds are consistent. Chinaโs wind power capacity has increased beyond expectations, and a lot of power comes from offshore wind turbines.


No easy to grasp the scale or impact of renewable energy expansion in China. In a single year of 2021, China added more than 100 GW of wind and solar capacity which is more than the total ever built globally except for just two other countries. And 2021 is not even leading. In 2020, 120 GW was added in wind and solar capacity.
To get an idea, 1 GW is equivalent to power about 750,000 homes or the capacity size of 2 coal-fired power plants. In perspective the electricity system capacity in the Netherlands is about 32 GW while the capacity in Germany about 218 GW (2019). So one can do some imagination for an annual 100 GW capacity expansion.


๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฎโ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐. Kiran Aziz, Head of Responsible Investment at KLP, Norwayโs largest pension fund was quoted โFrom the perspective of a coal-free ESG investor, this new announcement of connecting around 17 GW offshore wind just last year will resonate in boardrooms. Its wind sector is now increasingly attractive for foreign investment, alongside its solar sectorโ
Read more about what makes Chinaโs renewable energy capacity track possible here :
What the 2021 China Wind Power Boom Means for the World | EnergyTrackerAsia
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