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For over a decade, China has been the largest and fastest-growing producer of renewable energy in the world. Recently, China has significantly increased its lead in the energy transition through a rapid expansion in wind power capacity. According to the think tank Ember, China added more wind generation capacity in the past two years than in the previous seven years per weforum.org.
In 2022, China generated 46% more wind power than the entire continent of Europe, which was the world’s leading wind power producer until 2020. This accelerated growth in wind power cements China’s position as the global leader in clean energy. While China has deployed record volumes of both solar and wind power over the last decade, wind power capacity has grown at a steeper rate since 2020.
Chinas Wind Expansion
China’s recent wind power expansion has also been sharply higher than that of other major markets. The cumulative growth in 2021 and 2022 was 3.6 times greater than the growth seen over the same period in the United States, and 7.3 times more than in Europe. Around 22% of wind capacity in the United States and 27% in Europe’s top wind producer, Germany, was also installed before 2010, and so is likely to be less efficient than the latest generations of turbines.
China’s rapid rollout of wind capacity, along with a more than 27% surge in solar generation in 2022 from the year before, helped push its electricity share from clean energy sources to a record 34.2% last year. Higher generation of renewable power has also helped cap power costs for consumers, just as the prices of coal and natural gas have risen sharply on international markets.
Overview
China’s remarkable progress in wind power capacity expansion is a testament to its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and leading the global transition to clean energy. With China now producing 46% more wind power than the entire continent of Europe, it has firmly established itself as the world’s leading clean energy producer.
The rapid growth in wind power capacity, coupled with record volumes of solar power deployment over the past decade, shows that China is taking concrete steps towards meeting its climate change goals. As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, China’s leadership in the global clean energy transition serves as an inspiration and a model for other countries to follow.
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