In its efforts towards reducing carbon emission, China’s administration plans to inspect renewable power consumption across the country. This will focus on the amount of electricity produced by hydropower, wind and solar projects which was not absorbed by the grid.
The timeline under review is last year and the first half of the current year. The inspection is expected to go on until October 2021. Grids’ prioritisation of power sourcing will be inspected since grids often use fossil fuel power. Infrastructure to support connecting renewable power supplies to grids will also be inspected. The inspection will target power generators and grid companies controlled by State Grid Corp, China Southern Power Grid and Inner Mongolia Power Group.
As per a draft document by the National Energy Administration (NEA), China will mandate regional grid firms to source at least 40 per cent of power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. This will be a significant increase compared to 28.2 per cent in 2020. China has made efforts to increase consumption of renewable power by setting the minimum level of power purchased from non-fossil fuel sources at each region. However, grid absorption remains to be a challenge.
Last year, China pledged to become carbon neutral by 2060. It also declared that it would increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 per cent by 2030 from a previous commitment of 20 per cent. It also aims to boost power generating capacity to 1,200 GW by 2030 from 535 GW in 2020.
