In terms of both capacity and the country’s share of global markets, China is taking the lead in wind and solar energy investments demonstrating what results to be had with strategic investments into the sector.
China’s wind power capacity soared 22-fold and solar nearly 700-fold in the decade through 2018, according to data from the International Renewable Energy Agency, or IRENA. This was the main driver behind global wind capacity quintupling and solar surging 33-fold over the same period. China accounted for about 30% of the world’s renewables last year, with the U.S. a distant second at 10%.
Renewables form a centerpiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Made in China 2025” industrial modernization plan that seeks to make Beijing the world leader in the high-tech sector. Since meeting the nation’s growing energy needs with fossil fuels would exacerbate an already serious air pollution problem, the government aims to increase the total share of solar and wind in the overall power mix to nearly 30% in 2030 from less than 10% last year.
Also in hundreds of Chinese cities, solar energy is now cheaper than electricity supplied by the national grid, and it can even compete with coal-fired power in 75 of them, according to a study published in the journal Nature Energy.
Some 344 Chinese cities were found to have solar systems producing energy at lower prices than the grid, without any subsidies and this could encourage further investment in renewable energy, the report said.
China has made huge progress in developing solar projects and pledged to invest 2.5 trillion yuan ($367 billion) in renewable power generation — solar, wind, hydro and nuclear — from 2017-2020.
Solar can also compete on price with electricity produced solely from coal in around 22% of these cities, according to the research team led by Jinyue Yan from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Belt and Road infrastructure initiative has helped power China’s renewables sector as well, giving businesses opportunities to export clean-energy technology and take on large-scale electricity projects in emerging countries.
If the world moves toward renewable energy, China’s influence could rise as resource-exporting countries ebb, IRENA wrote in a January report.
A 250 km-long hub of manufacturers producing solar panels and materials, including silicon components, glass and cables, sits outside Shanghai. Longi Solar, the world’s No. 6 panel maker, operates a massive factory there that could meet 70% of Japan’s total demand. Chinese players controlled 71% of the panel market in 2017, while Japan — once in the lead — was down to a mere 2%.
While the wind turbine market remains more divided, two of the top five players are Chinese, holding a 22% share between them as of last year. The other three are split across Denmark, Spain and the U.S.
