China sets higher renewable power targets

China has set higher targets for the share of power from renewable sources this year, with Beijing to monitor whether each province meets its individual target.

The country expects to increase the share of renewable-based power generation to 28.2pc this year, up by 0.3 percentage points from last year, according to a notice issued by China's main economic planning agency the NDRC. The share of renewable power generation from non-hydro sources is expected to rise to 10.8pc, 0.7 percentage points higher compared with last year.

China's efforts to boost the use of renewables are likely to reduce the demand for coal-fired power and in turn weigh on coal use, although coal takes up a significant share in the country's electricity output.

The China electric council's (CEC) data suggests that coal-fired power accounted for 62pc of overall electricity output in the country last year. Coal-fired generation reached 4,560TWh last year, up by 1.7pc from 2018, according to the CEC.

Orders for provinces

The NDRC said 10 provinces and regions have been ordered to generate at least 30pc of power from renewable sources, while nine provinces and regions should target more than 15pc of power generation from non-hydro sources. Tibet is exempt from the targets as it already uses renewable sources to generate most of its power.

The targets set for individual provinces and regions are generally higher than their actual share of renewable generation achieved in 2019 or the targeted share that had been set for 2019.

The NDRC has asked regional power grid operators, which normally allocate operational power capacity for domestic plants in accordance with forecast power demand, to arrange the operation of power units according to the targets.

Chinese energy planning agency the NEA and its subsidiaries will monitor each province and region and will review whether the 2019 targets have been met early next year.

The targets for renewable-based power output were announced after China said last week it had space on its power grids to absorb 52pc more wind and solar capacity additions this year than it added in 2019.

Coal is still prominent in China's generation mix and accounts for the bulk of the thermal power output. January-April thermal power thermal output was 1,575.8TWh, the national bureau of statistics said last month. This accounted for around 74pc of total power output of 2,138.8TWh during the same period.