Renewable projects under construction are 1/3 of China’s pipeline
The gap between China and the rest of the world in renewable growth continues to grow. As of June 2024, the Asian country is constructing twice the renewable energy sources capacity between utility-scale solar plants (over 20 MW) and wind farms (over 10 MW) of all other countries. In total, the pipeline of projects already under construction reaches 339 GW.
Renewable Growth Target: China will reach them 6 years in advance
The growth of renewables in China is still driven by solar, with 180 GW, followed by wind, with 159 GW. A combined capacity that would be enough to meet the needs of the whole of South Korea. And that represents 1/3 of the total queue of projects, among those under construction, at different stages of the authorization process or only announced that Beijing can boast. This also reveals the gap with the rest of the planet: the global average of projects on the site is fixed at 7%.
The database update signed by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) shows that no other countries can match the solar and wind power plants under construction in China even by counting the full queue of solar and Wind projects. Brazil slightly exceeds 300 GW (about 100 GW was only announced), and Australia does. The United States, the 2nd largest country in the world for capacity under construction with 40 GW, has a total queue slightly exceeding 250 GW. Spain, first among the European countries, stops at just over 150 GW, followed by Sweden and the United Kingdom.
also read Photovoltaic panels, in European warehouses accumulated 40GW of Made in China
“In 2023 China added almost twice the capacity of solar and wind power utility-scale than any other year,” emphasizes GEM. “In the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW, although China Electricity Council data put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1.120 GW.”
In the future, if all of the proposed large-scale solar and wind projects (in total, 387 GW solar and 336 GW wind) were completed on schedule, China could reach 1,200 GW of installed wind and solar capacity by the end of 2024, six years before President Xi Jinping’s commitment.