China says a third of electricity will come from renewables by 2025 (updated)

China Renewable Energy Investment

01/06/2022 08:56

(Recasts, adds detail)
    SHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - China will aim to ensure that
its grids source about 33% of power from renewable sources by
2025, up from 28.8% in 2020, the state planning agency said on
Wednesday in a new "five-year plan" for the renewable sector.
    China's total renewable energy consumption is set to reach
about 1 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent (TCE) by
2025, as the country bids to raise the share of non-fossil fuels
in total energy use to 20%, the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) said.
    Non-fossil fuels accounted for 15.4% of total primary energy
consumption in 2020.    
    China, the biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse
gases, has pledged to raise total wind and solar capacity to
1,200 gigawatts by 2030, almost double the current rate, with
plans to build large-scale renewable energy bases in
northwestern desert regions.    
    Climate groups were hoping that China would set a strict
energy consumption target for 2025 as it prepares to bring total
greenhouse gas emissions to a peak before 2030. 
    Though China has yet to announce a formal energy cap, the
new non-fossil fuel energy consumption figure implies that total
primary energy use could reach 5 billion tonnes of standard coal
by 2025. 
    The NDRC said renewables would account for more than half of
new energy consumption growth from 2021-2025 period, but China
still has leeway to build more fossil fuel-fired power plants
over the period as it focuses on improving energy security.
    China is aiming to start cutting coal consumption in 2026,
but in the meantime could put as much as 150 gigawatts of new
coal capacity into operation by then, according to research from
the State Grid.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UY316         

 (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
 ((david.stanway@thomsonreuters.com; +86 21 2083 0066;))