Clean energy keeps pace with higher power use

China's total energy consumption this year is expected to continue rising with the proportion of clean energy in the energy mix increasing as well, according to a report from the Energy Development Research Institute of China Southern Power Grid.

The institute expects generation of clean power from sources like solar and wind will further increase during the 2020-21 period.

To ensure stable transmission, the institute suggests the introduction of a more flexible power grid. That would enable transmission of large-scale renewable energy, as well as continuous advancement of clean energy technology.

Industry insiders believe China will achieve its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) targets for non-fossil fuel consumption ahead of schedule, riding the advancements in wind, hydro and solar power.

Wei Hanyang, a power market analyst at Bloomberg New Energy, said China has already reached key energy targets set five years ago for 2020, including keeping coal power installations under 1,100 gigawatts.

"Hydro and renewables have been thriving, with targets mostly on track to be accomplished, and the energy intensity (per GDP unit) target has been achieved very well in 2016-19. Even if the industry narrowly misses the 2020 target, it would have been more but for the economic impact of COVID-19," he said.

According to the 13th Renewable Energy Development Five-Year Plan (2016-20) announced by the National Energy Administration in December 2016, China was to increase the share of nonfossil energy in total primary energy consumption to 15 percent by this year-end and to 20 percent by the end of 2030, while increasing installed renewable power capacity to 680 GW, and installed wind capacity to 210 GW by this year-end.

The larger goal is to promote offshore wind and ocean power development, lead renewable energy technology innovation, further support development of the renewable energy industry in China and decrease reliance on foreign companies in the area.

According to the institute, investment in the wind power sector last year rose sharply to more than 1.1 trillion yuan ($168.5 billion), accounting for 40 percent of total investment in power generation.

It was followed by hydropower with investments of 81.4 billion yuan or 28 percent of the total. But investment in thermal power dropped for the fourth consecutive year with only 6.3 billion yuan, a record low. Investments in solar reached 1.89 billion yuan, it said.

The country consumed 4.86 billion metric tons of standard coal in 2019, lower than the ceiling target of 5 billion tons.