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Business of climate change
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Climate change: China sets another solar power installation record while putting the brakes on fossil fuel capacity

  • Developers installed 86 gigawatts of solar power capacity last year, up 62 per cent from 2021, data published by the National Energy Administration shows
  • Wind farm installation fell by about a fifth after subsidies were scrapped but is expected to rebound in 2023

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A worker installs photovoltaic power panels on the roof of a factory in Tangsha, in north China’s Hebei province. Photo: Xinhua
Eric Ng
The installation of solar farms in China hit another record in 2022, while the amount of new fossil fuel-powered capacity fell for a second consecutive year as the nation continued to reduce its reliance on coal to generate electricity.
Developers installed 86 gigawatts of solar power capacity last year, up 62 per cent from 2021, bringing total installed capacity to 392.6GW, data published by the National Energy Administration (NEA) on Wednesday showed.

Wind farms installation fell by about a fifth to 37GW last year – the second consecutive substantial decline – after the central government stopped providing subsidies for developers of onshore projects at the start of 2021 and for offshore farms a year later. The cumulative installed capacity was 365GW by the end of last year.

Wind installation is set to rebound this year, said Dennis Ip, regional head of utilities research at Daiwa Capital Markets.

“We expect it to pick up sharply in 2023, especially offshore wind projects, since coastal provinces still have subsidy policies [until 2024 or 2025] to support new installations,” he told the Post. He forecast that 130GW of solar capacity and 70GW of wind farms would be added this year.

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On December 31, the NEA announced targets for installed capacity of 430GW for wind energy and 490GW for solar power by the end of 2023. To achieve that, the nation will have to add 64.5GW of wind farms and 97.4GW of solar projects this year.

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