China's renewable energy continues to grow, leading Asia

The China Electricity Council predicted that the country's power use, a key barometer of economic activity, will register stable growth in 2023 driven by the overall recovery of the country's economy, with power consumption to increase by about 6 percent year-on-year to reach 9.15 trillion kilowatt-hours.

Overall, electricity supply and demand are expected to remain balanced throughout the year with regional strained power supply during certain periods, the council said in a recently released report in Beijing.

China's electricity consumption maintained stable growth in 2022, up 3.6 percent year-on-year to nearly 8.64 trillion kilowatt-hours, it said.

According to the council, China is expected to come up with more green energy sources in 2023 with non-fossil fuel energy sources, such as wind and solar power, expected to reach around 60 percent of its total installed electricity generation capacity by the end of 2023. Newly added non-fossil power generation is expected to account for 90 percent of the total power consumption increment in China this year while solar power is likely to show a record yearly increase, compared to the around 85 GW of capacity added in 2022, it said.

The estimate is in line with forecasts by the National Energy Administration, saying that China will add 160 GW of wind and solar capacity in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 33 percent, with a focus on deeper integration of solar and wind power to the grid.

The country's solar capacity will reach 490 GW by the end of 2023, it said.

By the end of 2022, China's installed power generation capacity was 2,564.05 GW, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

China has devoted significant resources to the construction of its renewable energy capacity in recent years, coming up with large wind, solar and hydro plants across the country as it seeks to meet a target of peak carbon emissions before 2030, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

China is capable of meeting and exceeding the target of having 33 percent of its electricity consumption from renewable energy sources by 2025, she said.

S&P Global Commodity Insights believes China will continue to add more renewable power generation capacity while registering the world's most renewable energy growth in 2023.

China has accounted for roughly 44 percent of additional global renewable capacity and more than 73 percent of Asia's renewable energy capacity additions in recent years - and this trend is expected to continue in 2023, it said.

zheng@chinadaily.com.cn