{"id":11301,"date":"2025-08-06T07:50:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T11:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=11301"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:20:27","slug":"1200-gw-sounded-like-a-chinese-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/1200-gw-sounded-like-a-chinese-success\/11301\/","title":{"rendered":"China hit 1200 GW of renewable energy six years early and now its power grid can’t keep up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This country is renowned for<\/a> many things. It is the only country that is home to pandas in the wild, and they associate each year with an animal in their distinctive zodiac. The country is also commonly referred to as a global leader in the renewable energy industry and has achieved its goal of 1200 GW long before the deadline. It all sounded like a massive success, until a certain challenge was revealed.<\/p>\n

The purpose of achieving 1200 GW<\/h2>\n

The burning of fossil fuels such as gas, oil, and coal has been the main approach to provide power to countries all over the world for a very long time. As a result, a vast amount of greenhouse gases have been damaging the ozone layer and have severely contributed to climate change. To mitigate the effects of climate change, a global mission was set to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Achieving this global mission is not an easy feat; thankfully, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass have made it considerably easier. As the world gradually transitions to renewable energy sources, various countries have set their own goals<\/strong>, including China.<\/p>\n

In December 2020, during the UN Climate Ambition Summit, President Xi Jinping announced China’s goal of achieving 1200 GW by 2030.<\/strong> The country had a 446 GW wind and solar capacity at the time. This goal raised some eyebrows, as many thought China had set its target too low, while others thought it to be a noble goal. What happened soon after raised even more debate.<\/p>\n

A massive Chinese success long before the deadline<\/h2>\n

Ten years could either be too much or too little time, depending on whose perspective you’re looking from. According to David Fishman, the principal at The Lantau Group, making a long-term macro prediction in 2020 was not an ideal move<\/strong> for China. The COVID-19 pandemic struck hard, and many economies shrank during the first six months, leading to federal programs financially assisting citizens.<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s more, the wind\/solar Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) program was nearing its end, and asset owner profits were falling, subsidy payments were late, and private companies sold off assets to boost their books. The industry’s outlook was pretty bleak<\/strong>. Yet, one year later, China successfully launched a Whole-County Rooftop Solar Program. The end of 2021 was marked by a coal pricing crisis, which significantly boosted the Rooftop Solar Program demand.<\/p>\n

That year, China added a combined capacity of 102 GW, making its 2030 goal look seemingly low. In 2022, the country added another 49 GW of wind and 87 GW of solar capacity. The rooftop solar industry was booming. By 2023, the total wind and solar installations set a new record, and in 2024, China reached its 1200 GW goal six years early<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The revealing of a certain challenge<\/h2>\n

Some still argue that China’s 2030 goal was too low, and their early achievement proves it. On the other hand, as stated by Fishman, their goal highlighted extreme ambition during a period of tremendous uncertainty. Yes, China achieved its goal early, and the renewable output reached a point where it will supply the gradual growth in power demand. According to The Progress Playbook<\/em>, by 2028, at least 47%<\/strong> of China’s power will be generated by renewables.<\/p>\n

There is one significant challenge<\/strong> of achieving this goal six years too early. According to Fishman, China’s State Grid and Southern Grid were not adapted to keep up with a sudden boost in capacity. Which means the country had to act, and act fast, to implement the necessary changes to its grid asset buildout plan.<\/p>\n

In the latest news, China and Tesla have reportedly come to an agreement <\/a>to expand the country’s renewable energy storage capacity. This could be a great move for China, as achieving 1200 GW six years early has increased the chances of meeting the key COP28 resolution of tripling global<\/strong> renewable energy capacity to 11,000 GW by 2030.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This country is renowned for many things. It is the only country that is home to pandas in the wild, and they associate each year with an animal in their distinctive zodiac. The country is also commonly referred to as a global leader in the renewable energy industry and has achieved its goal of 1200 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":11302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"1200 GW,2030 goal,capacity","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"This country has achieved its goal of 1200 GW long before the deadline. It all sounded like a massive success, until a certain disaster was revealed.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}