Eastern China's Jiangsu province saw solar power capacity increase by a whopping 2.57 GW in March, leading overall growth in new renewable energy installations.
Jiangsu Energy Regulatory Office said in its monthly report on April 19 that the province added 3.48 GW of new power generation capacity last month, dominated by solar.
That included 2.57 GW of solar, 778 MW of thermal (mostly coal-based), and 104 MW of wind. It also commissioned 27.7 MW of new energy storage.
As of end-March, Jiangsu had 164.96 GW of total installed power generation capacity, split between 132.70 GW of unified-dispatch plants and 32.26 GW of non-unified dispatch generators, the report said.
Power generation in Jiangsu rose 0.84% year on year to 49.64 TWh in March. Output over January-March fell 3.35% to 140.14 TWh due to a higher base of comparison in the same period last year.
Average utilization of Jiangsu's power plants slipped 85 hours year on year to 848 hours in March.
Electricity consumption gained 6.85% from a year earlier to 62.47 TWh in March, lifting first-quarter demand 1.66% to 176.03 TWh.
Jiangsu's peak power load so far this year topped 104.15 GW, up 1.78% for the same period a year earlier, the report added.
The solar power surge reinforces Jiangsu's transition to clean energy and efforts to curb emissions. By accelerating the buildout of solar farms and other renewable projects, Jiangsu aims to steadily reduce its dependence on coal and achieve a more balanced power mix.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
For any questions, please contact us by inquiry@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.