So Far This Year, China Has Wasted Enough Clean Energy to Power Mexico
China is leading the world on renewable energy, last year installing more wind and solar capacity than every other country put together. But its buildout has unfolded at such a ferocious pace that China is now generating much more electricity than its power grid can handle, meaning that huge amounts of clean power are going unused. Read more on E360 →
China is the world leader in renewable energy installations, but its rapid buildout has led to an excess of clean power generation that cannot be absorbed by the power grid. In the first half of this year, China rejected 360 terawatt-hours of wind and solar electricity, enough to power Mexico for a full year, according to a report by Global Energy Monitor and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The unused electricity could have met all of China's growing electricity demand and reduced reliance on coal power generation. Analysts attribute the problem to a lack of transmission infrastructure and a policy that guarantees the purchase of electricity from newly built coal power plants. Despite China's commitment to shifting away from coal, new coal generators continue to be constructed, leading to the generation of large volumes of clean electricity that remains unused.
While India has recently surpassed coal in renewable energy capacity, transmission infrastructure has not yet caught up, resulting in significant energy waste. On a single day in March, India discarded 34 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity, enough to power approximately 5 million homes. The root cause of the issue, according to analysts, is the gap between the speed of renewable energy development and the readiness of transmission infrastructure.
Written by urgent.news from Yale Environment 360's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
