China takes global lead in solar and wind power generating capacities

A wind farm generates power for grids in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province on Aug 6, 2022. [Photo by Yao Feng/For China Daily]

China's solar and wind power generating capacities are the largest in the world, accounting for more than 35 percent of the global total, South China Morning Post reported on Jan 29, adding that the country is fast-tracking its wind and solar capacity and likely to hit its 2030 target ahead of time.

As demand for renewable energy continues to grow in China, the need for storage facilities also become critical to ensure supply, the article said.

China's lithium battery output increased 70 percent in 2022 to 957 GWh, according to SCMP, citing a report published by sustainable energy research house EVTank and China Yiwei Institute of Economics.

As the output is more than enough for domestic electric car industry, about one-sixth of excess output went to storage systems, the report said.

Driven by strong policy support, the deployment of vanadium redox flow batteries and compressed air energy storage has also increased rapidly in China.

The world's largest redox flow battery energy storage system with 400 megawatt-hours of capacity was connected to the grid in Dalian, northeast China in 2022.

The world's largest compressed air energy storage project with the same capacity also came on stream in Zhangjiakou of northern China, SCMP reported, citing an analyst of consulting company Wood Mackenzie.