Staff members examining solar panels on the rooftop of a local automobile maker in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

East China's Zhejiang Province saw a clean energy development boom between 2016 and 2020 as it sought to cut heavy reliance on coal and reduce pollution.

The total installed power generation capacity in the province had reached 101.4 GW by the end of 2020. It is up by 24.3 percent from five years ago, according to the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd.

Of all, clean energy contributed 37.84 GW, representing a massive increase of 96 percent from the level at the end of 2015, the company said.

Zhejiang invested heavily in clean energy development, such as wind, solar, and nuclear power, to improve its energy mix and reduce pollutant emissions.

By the end of 2020, the number of distributed solar power projects connected to the grid in the province had reached 230,000, with a total installed capacity of over 10 GW.

Solar energy has surpassed hydroelectric power to become the second-largest source of energy for power generation in the booming coastal province.