Clean energy lifts solar power generation

Source: Xinhua | 2018-01-03

China’s solar power generation has risen amid the government’s efforts to expand clean energy to curb pollution.

Solar power generation totaled 106.9 billion kilowatt hours in the first 11 months of 2017, up 72 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the National Energy Administration yesterday.

This was equivalent to 33 million tonnes of standard coal, and helped cut carbon dioxide emissions by 93 million tonnes, the NEA said.

By the end of November, China’s installed solar power generation capacity surged 67 percent annually to 125.79 gigawatts, and took up 7.5 percent of the total, up from 4.8 percent in 2016.

China has been promoting green resources such as wind and solar in recent years to cope with pollution and to boost the quality of its growth.

Pollution control will be kept as a priority, as the government has made it one of the “three tough battles” for the next three years, together with major risk prevention and poverty reduction.

The country aims to cap its coal-fired power capacity at 1,000 gigawatts in 2020, and non-fossil fuel will account for half of the country’s total power generation by 2030.