China Uses More Renewable Energy in First Nine Months

China’s renewable energy generation rose 11 per cent year on year by the end of September to 1.44 trillion kilowatt-hours, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

Of the total, hydropower topped 893.8 billion kWh in the first nine months of the year, up 7.9 per cent, while wind power stood at 291.4 billion kWh, up 8.9 per cent year on year, said Li Chuangjun, deputy director of the new energy and renewable energy sources bureau of the NEA, at a press conference. Meanwhile, solar photovoltaic power hit 171.5 billion kWh, up 28.1 per cent, while biomass generated 80.4 billion kWh of electricity, up 19.4 per cent from a year ago, Li said.

The country wasted less renewable energy during the period amid a rising utilisation rate, according to Li.

The utilisation rate of hydropower came in at 95.9 per cent in the first three quarters, up 3.3 percentage points, while average curtailment rates of wind power and photovoltaic power dropped by 3.5 percentage points and 1 percentage point, respectively.

“China advanced the green and low-carbon transformation of energy in the first three quarters,” said Song Wen, deputy director of the development and planning office of the NEA.

By the end of September, nonfossil energy accounted for 37.2 per cent of the country’s installed 6000-kilowatt and above generating units, up 0.8 percentage points compared with the same period last year, Song added.

The tallest dam is the Jinping 1 dam, at 305 metres, situated on the Jinping Bend of the Yalong River, in the Sichuan region. Construction work on the dam began in 2005 and was completed in 2014.