State Grid Corp makes major strides in clean power

State Grid Corp of China, which runs the majority of China's electricity distribution networks, said its clean power generation installed capacity has reached 550 million kilowatts, 73 percent of the nation's total capacity of 700 million kilowatts.

The installed capacity for hydropower generation, wind power and solar power reached 227 million kilowatts, 146 million kilowatts and 153 kilowatts respectively, up 1 percent, 13 percent and 33 percent compared with the same period in 2017, making the company the world's biggest power grid with access to the largest installed capacity, the company said on Thursday.

This is as China has made substantial progress in developing clean energy, totaling 700 million kilowatts of installed capacity for hydropower generation last year, which accounts for 30 percent of the total global installed capacity for clean energy.

China will step up efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and improve its energy consumption mix to ensure improved air quality. It plans to cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, while investing 2.5 trillion yuan ($366 billion) in renewable energy by 2020, according to the National Energy Administration.

Analysts said despite the substantial progress made by China on clean energy generation, it still looks tough to achieve the government's target of 5 percent or less curtailment rate by 2020.

Joseph Jacobelli, an independent energy analyst and Asia-Pacific CEO of clean energy producer Joule Power, said the nation's momentum in accelerating the use of clean energy picked up speed since the 2011 to 2015 period, and the fast pace has enabled China to become the undisputed clean energy growth engine in the world.

"I don't think this momentum will stop in the next two to three decades," he said.

"If you look at just the recent numbers, they are simply amazing. The country has been able to aggressively change its energy mix."

Qinghai province in northwestern China has set a record, running only on electricity generated from wind, solar and hydropower stations for nine consecutive days last June, which is a successful testament to China's commitment to a low-carbon future.

According to China State Grid's Qinghai branch, electricity consumption during the nine days reached 1.76 billion kilowatt-hours, and it said it would expand the duration of the clean energy power supply project to one month or longer this year.

The company will continue expanding its network for clean energy this year, aiming to transfer some 12.6 billion kilowatts of clean energy compared with the total 42 billion kilowatts of energy in total.