China's installed offshore wind capacity in 2021 exceeds that of any other country in five years.

According to data from China's National Energy Administration, China's offshore wind power will add nearly 17 million kilowatts of installed capacity in 2021. This extraordinary expansion means that China now operates nearly half of the world's installed offshore wind capacity, or 26 gigawatts of the 54 gigawatts. Introducing the data, Chinese media said that combined with solar and wind power generation, China will add as much as 101 million kilowatts of new renewable power generation capacity in 2021. By comparison, Spain's total national electricity generation in 2020 was about 110 million kilowatts.

Simon Evans of UK-based climate policy website Carbon Brief tweeted that China was well behind second-placed UK, which had previously added 10 gigawatts of offshore capacity a year. The installed capacity of wind power ranks first in the world. In addition, the United States has only two small offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 42,000 kilowatts.

However, China faces major challenges ahead as per capita electricity demand begins to catch up with European countries. British climate think tank Ember found that China's electricity demand will grow by 28% from 2017 to 2021, an increase that exceeds the generation capacity of India's national grid in 2021. However, China still generates 84% of its energy from fossil fuels and still has 1,082 coal-fired power plants in operation.

Yang Muyi, a senior power policy researcher at "Enbo", explained this. "China's 'power paradox' essentially reflects the fact that China's electricity transition process is in the 'energy replenishment' phase, with both clean energy and coal energy on the rise, albeit at a much faster rate. "The result is a relative decline, but not an absolute decline, in coal power generation in the power generation mix," Yang said. Taking China's power transition to the next stage, where there will be an absolute decline in coal power generation, is critical to meeting China's climate commitments ." He added, "It's a very challenging task."

David Jones, head of the "Ember" global project, said that China's electricity demand still has a lot of room for growth, and its per capita electricity consumption is less than half that of the United States. Last year, the Chinese bought 3.3 million electric vehicles, a nearly three-fold increase from 2020 and the highest in the world. Electrifying everything from industry and agriculture to heating and transport is a key element of China's latest five-year plan. That's because electrification is key to lowering air pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Jones said: "China is indeed moving towards an electrified future. The answer to the question of 'why is China increasing its demand for electricity' is that they are leading the world." Editor / Sang Xiaomei