By Colleen Howe
BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) – China plans to increase wind and solar power generation by 53% over the next five years, under a renewable energy plan released on Thursday that for the first time makes its green power target binding.
The plan is aimed at increasing overall renewable generation to 1.8 billion tons of coal equivalent (tce) by 2030 from 1.18 billion tce in 2025, and at making renewables more reliable sources of power during spikes in demand. Here are other key points:
• By 2030, wind and solar, backed up by storage, should be able to supply 8% of their installed capacity during periods of peak demand, and cover 20% of electricity use during demand spikes.
• By 2030, China also wants to add over 300 gigawatts (GW) of renewable peaking capacity, or renewables that can be dispatched when demand spikes.
• The plan targets 150 million tce of wind and solar use outside the power sector. That includes renewables-powered heating and cooling, as well as the production of green hydrogen, which Beijing has said will reach 2 million metric tons per year by 2030.
• The plan targets 570 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower capacity by 2030, up from a 450 GW target for 2025. That includes 160 GW of pumped storage hydro capacity by 2030, up from 66 GW in 2025. The plan also aims to increase the flexibility of China’s hydropower plants.
• It calls for building deep-sea offshore wind bases, suggesting Beijing may in future apply the centralized, large-scale development model used for its desert wind and solar megabases to offshore wind projects as well. It also calls for integrating offshore wind with underwater data centers.
• Beijing plans to pilot renewables megabases that transmit 100% green electricity. Wind and solar now make up only about 20% of the power sent through China’s ultra-high voltage transmission network, according to Global Energy Monitor. The network moves power from megabases in the north and northwest to cities and factories in the east.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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