The Chinese have made big strides with regards to renewable energy. Earlier on this month they unveiled the biggest floating solar power farm, they have one of the biggest solar power farms not to mention their plans for the forest city which will purely run on renewable energy. It is not surprise that an entire region, in Qinghai Province with a population of 5 million, ran on 100 percent renewable energy for a week.
The test was carried out by State Grid Corporation of China to prove that China does not need to rely on fossil fuels to meet their energy demands. The power was generated from combination of Solar, Wind and hydropower sources of renewable energy. The operation occurred between 17 and 23 June with consumed energy amounted to 1.1 billion killowatt-hours.
The operation occurred between 17 and 23 June 2017 and the consumed energy amounted to 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). Which if produced by fossil fuels would have needed 535,000 tons of coal. The area has been investing in renewable energy for some time and this is in a series of research before fully moving to 100% clean energy. Currently, the region receives more than 80% of its total supply from renewable energies, but the district’s authorities won’t rest until that number is up to 100%. They are currently aiming for total renewable power by 2020.
China is a part of the Paris Climate accord. As part of its commitment, China needs to increase its use of non-fossil fuels so that they make up less than 20% of the country’s total energy consumption. If the plans for Qinghai continue successfully, they will be well on their way. China is putting massive investment into renewable energy, recently surpassing the US as the world leader in renewable energy development. They are expected to invest $360 billion USD on clean energy projects before 2020.
