Solar and wind power projects in China need more regulatory support

BEIJING, Feb 20 (Reuters) – China’s renewable energy projects are struggling to access land and in some areas the grid cannot absorb all the electricity generated, the national energy authority said. energy, calling for increased regulatory support for this rapidly growing sector.

In recent years, Beijing has spearheaded an ambitious initiative to increase the country’s renewable energy capacity, which now accounts for 31.3% of total electricity supply capacity.

Last year, China installed 152 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity, or 76.2 percent of all new power capacity, the National Energy Administration (ANE) reported on Monday.

This additional renewable capacity roughly equals Norway’s total electricity capacity.

However, its rapid growth has put it in competition with other industries, particularly agriculture, for land use, making it increasingly difficult to obtain land rights to install solar panels.

Wang Bohua, honorary president of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, told a conference last week that local governments had implemented central government restrictions on land use on a “universal” model. “, and if they do not improve these standards, “will greatly influence the scale of new solar installations in eastern and central China.”

China must remove construction barriers and promote grid integration to ensure its first batch of large-scale wind and solar power bases come online on time, the NEA said in a report after a recent issue meeting. .

President Xi Jinping has pledged to boost China’s total wind and solar capacity to at least 1,200 GW and limit its carbon emissions by 2030.

The country also plans to build 450 GW of wind and solar power generation capacity in the Gobi and other desert regions.

China has said its goal is for renewables to account for more than 50% of its power generation capacity by 2025.

(Reporting by Andrew Hayley; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Spanish editing by José Muñoz in the Gdansk newsroom)