China’s Solar Power Capacity on Course to Surpass Coal This Year
Solar panels at the Baofeng Agriculture-Photovoltaic Integration Industrial Base near Yinchuan, Ningxia autonomous region, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergChina’s solar generating capacity is expected to surpass coal for the first time this year, according to the country’s top electricity industry group, marking a milestone in the country’s long-standing effort to build a cleaner power system.
The nation, which runs on some of the world’s cheapest electricity at more than twice the scale of the US, is on track to source about half of its installed generating capacity from solar and wind by the end of the year, the China Electricity Council said in a report on Monday. Coal’s share is expected to slide to about one third of the total even amid a building boom.