China Takes A Leading Role in Renewable Energy

                         by David Parmer/Tokyo

“Greenpeace estimates that China installed an average of more than one wind turbine every hour of every day in 2015, and covered the equivalent of one soccer field every hour with solar panels.”                (NY Times, 5 Jan 2017)

As the US moves backward on environmental protection and withdraws from the Paris Agreement on climate change, China steps forward and takes world leadership. China understands that renewable energy is not the wave of the future, but the wave of now.

The numbers around this topic are not only telling, they are stunning. For example, Deutsche Welle reported on its website that not only was there a steady 3-year decline in the use of coal in China, there was also an 81% increase in solar electricity generation capacity and a 13.2 % increase in wind generation. The government has pledged to spend $360 billion on solar and wind development going forward.

China has promised to hit a number of ambitious environmental goals by 2030, however, the Shanghai Daily reported on 24 April 2017 that these goals might be met as early as 2025.

As renewables becomes cheaper than fossil fuel China will continue to enhance its energy security and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Chinese companies will not only become world players, but also come to dominate the global renewable energy industry.

After the June 1 announcement that the US would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, China began to look at partnering with local US governments. The first discussions were held in Beijing with California governor Jerry Brown.

While overall the situation internationally and domestically is positive, the transition to renewables for China comes with a few glitches. One such issue is solar curtailment; energy being generated but not being taken up by the grid. The oversupply of renewably-generated electricity must vie with traditional coal-generated electricity, and sometimes it loses out. Also, this coal-generated energy is not easy to phase out, and probably never will be. Many plants will use a higher grade, cleaner burning coal in the future.

From now on when there is any discussion at all about the production, sale and use of renewable energy, the mention of China and Chinese companies will be a matter of course.

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Photo: Windmills in Xinjiang by Chris Lim via flickr