China's clean energy generation accelerates in first half

BEIJING — More electricity has been generated from clean energy sources in China in the first half of this year, a senior official said Tuesday.

The amount of electricity generated from clean energy sources increased by 5.15 percent year-on-year, equivalent to a 22-million-metric ton reduction in thermal coal consumption, said Yan Pengcheng, spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Clean energy has accounted for 27.2 percent of the country's total power output in the first six months, up 1.8 percentage points from the same period last year, Yan told a press conference.

Wind power generated in the January-June period grew 25.7 percent year-on-year, while solar power jumped 80.3 percent and nuclear power was up 20.8 percent, he said.

Yan said he expected a further rise in clean power output in the coming months when the country's electricity consumption braces for its seasonal peak, due to a potential increase in hydropower output during the flood season and a pick-up in wind and solar power development.

He predicted that up to 30 percent of China's total power output this summer would be clean power, helping reduce thermal power generation by nearly 40 billion kWh and thermal coal consumption by some 18 million tons between July and September.

China's power output increased 6.3 percent year-on-year to 2.96 trillion kilowatt-hours in the first half of 2017, official figures showed.

The country has pledged to cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and raise the share of non-fossil energy use in total consumption to about 20 percent.