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The latest quarterly report by the China Electricity Council titled Operational Situation of Electric Power Industry from January to March 2023 indicates that solar (inclusive of both PV and CSP) is growing at 33.7% year on year and is now twice the capacity of coal power.
The full report is at China Electricity Council: Operational Situation of Electric Power Industry from January to March 2023, and the solar stats are in Section 2. Power generation production
2. Power generation production
As of the end of March, the national power generation installed capacity was 2.62 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%. Among them, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation was 1.33 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%, accounting for 50.5% of the total installed capacity, and the proportion increased by 3.0 percentage points year-on-year. Hydropower 420 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. Thermal power was 1.34 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 3.0%. Among them, coal-fired power generation was 1.13 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%, gas-fired power generation was 120 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%, and biomass power generation was 41.95 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 8.0%. Nuclear power was 56.76 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. Wind power was 380 million kilowatts (of which, onshore wind power and offshore wind power were 34,484 and 30.89 million kilowatts, respectively), a year-on-year increase of 11.7%. Solar power generation was 430 million kilowatts (of which, photovoltaic power generation and solar thermal power generation were 42,522 and 670,000 kilowatts, respectively), a year-on-year increase of 33.7%.
As of the end of March, the installed capacity of power plants of 6,000 kilowatts and above nationwide was 2.41 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. Hydropower is 370 million kilowatts, of which conventional hydropower is 330 million kilowatts; thermal power is 1.33 billion kilowatts, of which coal-fired power generation is 1.13 billion kilowatts, gas power generation is 110 million kilowatts; nuclear power is 56.76 million kilowatts; grid-connected wind power is 380 million kilowatts; grid-connected solar power is 2.6 billion kilowatts.
China has installed twice as much solar (PV and CSP) as coal – and has 30 CSP projects under construction, mostly central Tower CSP like this one IMAGE@GrupoCobra
In general, solar and wind increased in the first quarter at far higher rates year on year than coal, nuclear and hydro:
“From January to March, the hydropower generation of power plants above designated size across the country was 203.5 billion kwh, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%. The top three provinces in terms of hydropower generation in the country are Sichuan, Yunnan and Hubei, whose total hydropower generation accounts for 66.3% of the national hydropower generation, with growth rates of 13.8%, 1.8% and -27.4% respectively.
From January to March, the thermal power generation of power plants above designated size across the country was 1,495.1 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%. In terms of provinces, thermal power generation in 5 provinces including Guangxi, Chongqing, Hunan, Guizhou and Hainan increased by more than 10%, while thermal power generation in Shanghai, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Jilin and Fujian decreased by more than 5%.
From January to March, the national nuclear power generation capacity was 103.3 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%.
From January to March, the national grid-connected wind power plants generated 228.7 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 24.5%.”
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