Edward White and Wenjie Ding of the Financial Times report that Beijing is rolling out huge investments to upgrade transmission systems as a shift away from coal power generation puts pressure on the country’s creaking power grid. They write:
China’s electricity grid is set for an unparalleled investment of more than $800bn in the next six years to overcome strains on the energy system as the country makes a rapid shift from coal power to renewable sources.
China’s creaking grid represents a major constraint to progress on its green energy transition. During the first four months of this year alone, China invested Rmb122.9bn ($17bn) in its power grid projects, a 24.9 per cent year-on-year increase. That compares with the $3.5bn announced last October by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which covers 58 projects across 44 states.
China’s forecast capital expenditure is set to rise from about $102bn this year to $157bn by 2030, according to data from research group Rystad Energy. […]
Climate Energy Finance analyst Dong also pointed out that a “notable shift” had taken place in the scale of solar in China last year.
Utility-scale solar rose to 120GW from 36GW the year before, overtaking smaller-scale distributed solar — mostly rooftops — which grew to 96GW from 52GW. Over time, this shift is expected to further alleviate some pressure from local electricity distribution systems.
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