{"id":97597,"date":"2017-09-04T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=97597"},"modified":"2017-08-27T19:45:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T18:45:45","slug":"china-has-already-more-than-doubled-its-2020-solar-power-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/china-has-already-more-than-doubled-its-2020-solar-power-target\/","title":{"rendered":"China Has Already More Than Doubled Its 2020 Solar Power Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_97598\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-97598\" class=\"wp-image-97598\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative-1024x553.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative-1024x553.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative-768x415.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-97598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 1500 volt solar power plant in China. Sungrow<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>25 Aug 2017 &#8211; <\/em>China has more than doubled its end-of-decade <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/tag\/solar\" >solar<\/a> power target, with new installations dramatically outstripping expectation, according to the government&#8217;s energy agency.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of July this year, China&#8217;s solar PV capacity topped 112GW, after installing a stunning 35GW in just seven months\u2014more than twice as much as installed by any other country in all of 2016.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, total solar PV capacity now exceeds the government&#8217;s 2020 goal of 105GW, set as recently as last year.<\/p>\n<p>This could have created a very confusing situation for the industry\u2014after years of record-setting installations, there was no target to hit\u2014but <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/zfxxgk.nea.gov.cn\/auto87\/201707\/t20170728_2835.htm\" >the National Energy Administration (NEA) responded<\/a> by setting new, ambitious annual installation targets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">World&#39;s Biggest Floating Solar Farm Goes Live on Top of a Former Coal Mine <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UufHfdlrq4\" >https:\/\/t.co\/UufHfdlrq4<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/solar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#solar<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/renewableenergy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#renewableenergy<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/coal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#coal<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@EcoWatch<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DeSmog (@DeSmog) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeSmog\/status\/900850239615225856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >August 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>These targets would take capacity to 213GW in 2020\u2014which is five times larger than current capacity of the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>That would mean covering an area of land equivalent to greater London\u20141500km2\u2014with solar panels.<\/p>\n<p>Current growth rates suggest China could even surpass that new, higher target.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative2.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-97599\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative2.jpg 686w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/china-solar-power-energy-alternative2-300x290.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Wind is also doing well<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>China is on track to install at least 110.4 GW in onshore <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/tag\/wind\" >wind<\/a> capacity over the next three years.<\/p>\n<p>This would increase the country&#8217;s cumulative wind power installation by 2020 to about 264 GW, far exceeding the original target of 210GW set during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also considerably more than the total wind power capacity of all of Europe (and that&#8217;s including the UK).<\/p>\n<p><strong>New targets<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not all the new targets imply.<\/p>\n<p>By 2020, China is aiming to build 54.5GW of large-scale solar projects\u2014PV stations, and agriculture and husbandry combinations.<\/p>\n<p>That alone surpasses the total solar capacity of both the UK and Germany combined.<\/p>\n<p>In addition there will be 8GW of new showcase projects that use higher efficiency solar PV every year.<\/p>\n<p>The new target reflects the huge potential for distributed solar\u2014electricity that is produced at the same spot where it is used. Under the new regulation, there are no limitations on the installation of distributed <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/renewable-energy\/\" >renewables<\/a>, meaning innovations like rooftop solar panels are on track to soar.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, distributed solar installations have shot up.<\/p>\n<p>According to NEA statistics, 7.11 GW of distributed solar PV was added in the first half of 2017, an approximately threefold increase year-on-year.<\/p>\n<p>The astounding growth of wind and solar power in China means that the country is on track to generate Germany&#8217;s total electricity consumption from these sources by 2020. Generation from wind and solar would amount to around nine percent of China&#8217;s own consumption, up from 5.2 percent last year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Curtailment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s not all rosy.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s wind and solar power sectors are still battling a huge <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/energydesk.greenpeace.org\/2017\/04\/19\/china-wind-solar-renewable-curtailment-energy-wasted\/\" >curtailment crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the first half of 2017, the national wind curtailment rate stood at 13.6 percent, with solar curtailment in five northwest provinces at 15.5 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The NEA&#8217;s new targets, however, acknowledge the problem and take two key steps to tackle it.<\/p>\n<p>First, provinces with serious wind and solar curtailment problems, such as the western provinces Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia, are not permitted to install more capacity.<\/p>\n<p>This should have the effect of nudging these province&#8217;s governments towards effectively utilising the enormous capacity they have already installed.<\/p>\n<p>And that will mean challenging <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/tag\/coal\" >coal&#8217;s<\/a> dominance in the energy mix.<\/p>\n<p>Second, seven provinces, including Beijing and Shanghai, are allowed to install as much solar capacity as they want with the important caveat that the new capacity does not cause curtailment in these areas.<\/p>\n<p>That suggests China could in fact smash its own 2020 solar target. Again.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/china-solar-target-2476947208.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&amp;utm_campaign=88f0c7842c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-88f0c7842c-86106797\" >Go to Original \u2013 ecowatch.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>25 Aug 2017 &#8211; China has more than doubled its end-of-decade solar power target, with new installations dramatically outstripping expectation, according to the government&#8217;s energy agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}