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China's solar and wind power installations will reach a record high in 2024

China's official data revealed on Tuesday that it broke its own record for new wind and sun power installations last year. The country has been accelerating its pace since 2023, when the country set a breakneck speed. It is aiming to reach its peak carbon emissions by 2030.

The National Energy Administration reported on Tuesday that the installed solar and wind energy capacity will increase by 45.2% and 18.2%, respectively, between 2024 and 2026.

It said that there are now 886.67 gigawatts of solar installed power, compared to 609.49 gigawatts in 2023. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, in 2023 there were 139 GW of solar power installed in the United States.

These installations show that China has achieved its 2030 goal six years earlier than expected. This is a testament to the speed with which it is implementing clean energy, especially at a moment when Donald Trump pulled the United States from the Paris Climate Deal for the second time. He also pledged to ease the drilling for oil and natural gas.

China National Petroleum Company, a state-owned oil company, said that by 2030 solar power should be able to outpace coal, which dominates China's electricity grid. The difference is 1,780 GW versus 1,440 GW.

In August last year, China's State Planner unveiled a plan for a three-year upgrade of the power system. The plan aims to increase the use of renewable energies and ease the strain on the national grid caused by the rising demand.

The administration reported that wind power capacity had reached 520 GW. This is an 18% increase from the previous year.

The total installed power generation capacity will increase by 14.6% on an annual basis, to reach 3.35 billion kilowatts in 2024.

Greenpeace analysts say that renewable energy could satisfy all of China's power growth in 2025.

According to Greenpeace East Asia's Beijing-based project manager Gao Yuhe, this would "pave way for China’s power sector (to) achieve peak emissions before 2025".

(source: Reuters)