China is also reaching the limits in renewable energy

China's renewable energy industry faces barriers to access to land and the electricity grid, and despite rapid development, it still needs political support to overcome these problems, China's National Administration of Energy said on Monday. energy (NEA). Large-scale solar and wind energy projects are increasingly competing with agriculture for land and for the right to install solar panels and wind turbines, according to a NEA report cited by Reuters.

Wang Bohua, honorary president of the Chinese PV Industry Association, said China must remove barriers and improve land-use regulations and restrictions, otherwise new solar power installations in eastern and central parts of the country could slow down. in the future.

Wind and solar power generation in China has increased in recent years to nearly equal domestic electricity consumption, but the relatively small share of domestic demand in overall consumption means China still needs plenty of fossil fuels. In 2022, China's wind and solar power generation increased by 21 percent to 1,190 terawatt hours (TWh), according to NEA data cited by Bloomberg. For comparison, residential electricity demand increased by 14% last year to 1,340 TWh as people mostly stayed at home due to the zero-Covid policy. Despite the increase in wind and solar installations and production in China, Chinese industry accounts for about 60 percent of all electricity demand, according to Bloomberg estimates. Residential demand, on the other hand, accounts for only 17% of electricity consumption in 2020.

China is accelerating the ramp-up of solar and wind power generation capacity and is likely to meet its 2030 renewable energy target sooner than expected, the South China Morning Post reported last month. At least 30 Chinese provinces have presented more ambitious renewable energy installation plans. Renewable energy installations in China to continue to experience robust growth this year, after capacity jump in 2022, thanks to strong demand, lower feedstock costs and low base effect for wind power, Fitch Ratings said in a report earlier this month of March.