A photo taken on March 19, 2024 shows wind turbines in a coastal area of Rongcheng city, East China's Shandong Province. The city, relying on its rich coastal wind energy resources, vigorously promotes the development of green and clean energy industries and optimizes the energy structure, in a bid to achieve ecological protection and sustainable development. Photo: VCG

China's National Energy Administration (NEA) on Mondy released data about the electricity industry in the first quarter this year, showing a marked increase in the total installed capacity with 2.99 billion kilowatts at the end of March, up 14.5 percent year-on-year, which reveals the country's economic recovery is gaining pace. 

China continues to support manufacturing industry by driving investment in energy generation, which received a total of 136.5 billion yuan ( $18.85 billion) in new investment, up 7.7 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the installed clean new energy capacity is also playing a positive role in the new energy transition of China's industry, particularly at a time when China's industrial sector is increasingly relying on clean energy. 

The NEA reported that the installed capacity of solar power generation reached 0.66 billion kilowatts with a year-on-year increase of 55 percent, with the installed capacity of wind power generation reached about 0.46 billion kilowatts, up 21.5 percent year-on-year.

The utilization of hydropower also rose in the first quarter, aiding China's new energy transition.

The NEA reported that the cumulative utilization hours of hydroelectric power generation equipment nationwide increased by 11 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, with cumulative power consumption rate of hydropower plants nationwide up 11 percent year-on-year.

The report also revealed that newly added wind power installed capacity in the country surged by 509 percent year-on-year, and the newly added solar power installed capacity rose more than 12 times year-on-year. 

China is actively supporting renewable clean energy utiliztion, and is determined to push new energy transition that is considered more sustainable and helps control greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Global Times