Just ran across this news item from techxplore.com on new data compiled by the Global Energy Monitor NGO detailing the truly gobsmacking dominance China has managed to establish in the construction of large scale wind and solar energy projects, which the above chart illustrates.
With a total capacity of 180 GW of utility-scale solar and 159 GW of wind power currently under construction, this is nearly twice the capacity of all the other similar projects in the rest of the world combined -- and nearly an order of magnitude greater than what we in the far distant second place US are currently building!
More data from the GEM report:
China added almost twice as much utility-scale solar and wind power capacity in 2023 than in any other year. By the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW, though data from China Electricity Council put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1,120 GW. Wind and solar now account for 37% of the total power capacity in the country, an 8% increase from 2022, and widely expected to surpass coal capacity, which is 39% of the total right now, in 2024.
Even more impressive:
In a separate report released on Thursday, the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found China issued no new permits for coal-based steelmaking projects in the first half of 2024.
CREA said that was the first time on a half-yearly basis that there have been no new permits since China announced its "dual carbon goals" in September 2020—a development hailed as a possible "turning point" by the independent research organization.
"As China's steel demand peaks and more scrap becomes available, there is great potential to shift away from coal-based production, representing a significant opportunity for emissions reduction in the next 10 years," CREA's report said.
Indeed, while China remains by far the foremost emitter of greenhouse gases:
Looking ahead, if all proposed utility scale solar and wind projects come online as
intended, China could easily reach 1,200 GW of installed wind and solar capacity by the
end of 2024, six years ahead of the pledge made by President Xi Jinping and one year
earlier than GEM’s forecast last year.…
The sheer amount of prospective capacity under development in China provides
further evidence for the forecast that the power sector’s carbon emissions may peak
earlier than the promised timeline, which is “before 2030.” In fact, the May 2024 study
by Lauri Myllyvirta, a senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute and lead analyst at the
Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, even suggests that China’s overall CO2
emissions may have already peaked in 2023, citing that 90% of power demand
increases have been met by wind and solar generation, as well as the decline in
housing construction activity.
If true, this would be an enormous step forward toward meeting China's ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2060 -- would that the rest of the world could emulate their example!