China Announces Action Plan to Speed Up Power System Reform

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The world’s largest liquid air energy storage demonstration project in Golmud City, Northwest China’s Qinghai province, is expected to be put into operation by the end of the year. Photo: Ma Mingyan/China News Service, VCG

China has announced an action plan to accelerate its power system reform, as the country looks to get more out of the immense amount of clean energy capacity it has added in recent years and cut its reliance on coal.

The central government has said that it will launch nine dedicated campaigns over the next three years to accelerate building a new type of power system that can better absorb, allocate and regulate clean energy — whose output can be more intermittent and harder to predict than fossil fuels, according to the plan published Tuesday.

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China announced a plan for power system reform to better utilize its clean energy and reduce coal dependence from 2024 to 2027.
The plan includes nine campaigns to enhance the grid’s ability to manage and distribute cleaner energy, supported by three central government agencies.
By June, China’s wind and solar power capacity (1,180 GW) surpassed its coal power capacity (1,170 GW), though renewables still contribute less to overall electricity generation.

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What Happened When

2023：: The National Data Administration (NDA) was founded to manage matters related to data and digitalization.

January 2024：: Australian-based think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) reported that in 2023, wind and solar power accounted for 12% of China’s total electricity generation, while thermal power provided 70%.

Tuesday, 2024：: China published an action plan to accelerate its power system reform and launched nine dedicated campaigns to build a new type of power system to better absorb, allocate, and regulate clean energy.

By June 2024：: China’s installed wind and solar power capacity eclipsed its coal power capacity for the first time, reaching 1,180 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power installed capacity.

By the end of June 2024：: 1,180 GW of wind and solar power capacity accounted for 38.4% of China’s total power-generating capacity, surpassing the 1,170 GW of coal power, which accounted for 38.1%.