China added almost twice as much utility-scale solar and wind power capacity in 2023 than in any other year. By the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW, though data from China Electricity Council put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1,120 GW.
Once a coal mining site, the Otog Front Banner, Ordos in Inner Mongolia is now home to the Mengxi Blue Ocean Photovoltaic Power Station, China's largest single-capacity solar power plant. The facility is designed to generate 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity every year, sufficient to power two million households.
Wind and solar now account for 37% of the total power capacity in the country, an 8% increase from 2022, and widely expected to surpass coal capacity, which is 39% of the total right now, in 2024. Cumulative annual utility-scale solar & wind power capacity in China, in gigawatts (GW)
In 2022, China built approximately two new coal fired power stations every week - many of these were located on new solar and wind parks, often to provide back up power and to ensure continuity of energy supply. "The big issue going forward is how will these coal plants actually be deployed," Mr Weil said.
Instead of nuclear, solar is now intended to be the foundation of China's new electricity generation system. Authorities have steadily downgraded plans for nuclear to dominate China's energy generation. At present, the goal is 18 per cent of generation by 2060.
So although China is installing solar and wind generation equivalent to five large nuclear power plants per week, their output is closer to one nuclear plant per week. Renewables account for more than half of installed capacity in China, but only amount to about one-fifth of actual energy output over a year, the CEF's Tim Buckley said.