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by Fuquan Zhao ^1,2, Fanlong Bai ^1,2, Xinglong Liu ^1,2 and Zongwei Liu ^1,2,*

¹ State Key Laboratory of Automobile Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ²Tsinghua Automobile Strategy Research Institute, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15006; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215006 Received: 7 October 2022 / Revised: 5 November 2022 / Accepted: 7 November 2022 / Published: 13 November 2022 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Sustainable Economy Transition)

Abstract

To achieve their carbon peak and carbon neutrality target, China’s energy transition is seen as the most important instrument. Despite the rapid growth of renewable energy in China, there are still many challenges. Based on the review of the contemporary literature, this paper seeks to present an updated depiction of renewable energy in the Chinese context. The potential, status quo, and related policy of China’s renewable energy are thoroughly investigated. The challenges facing renewable energy development under the carbon neutrality target are analyzed, including enormous transition urgency and pressure, technology, and policy issues. Then, coping strategies are proposed to guide the direction of renewable energy development. Technology paths and policy recommendations are presented. This paper contributes to technology developing and policymaking by providing a comprehensive, thorough, and reliable review of renewable energy development in China.

Keywords: 

renewable; energy transition; policy incentive; technology path; power system

1. Introduction

In recent years, climate change and energy issues have become the prominent global challenge and a major concern of China. In 2020, president Xi Jinping pledged to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 (referred to as the dual carbon target). China’s energy sector, which heavily relies on fossil energy, especially coal, is the largest contributor to China’s carbon emissions [1]. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China’s energy consumption accounts for nearly 90% of China’s total CO₂ emissions in 2020 [2]. The carbon neutrality target poses a huge challenge to China’s energy system, causing energy transition to be the key to the overall decarbonization of China’s economy and society.

Despite aggressive energy transition goals, China still faces many challenges in the energy sector. In terms of energy supply, fossil fuel still dominates with the problem of overcapacity to be addressed [1,3,4]. The supply and consumption of renewable energy resources in China are also highly mismatched, the center of renewable energy is in the northwest, and the electricity consumption center is in the east. In terms of energy consumption, the load profile of energy is becoming increasingly complex and the regional energy distribution is becoming more diversified, which demands a higher power system flexibility [5]. Moreover, China’s economy is still growing at a considerable rate and renewable energy cannot independently meet the energy requirement of the economy’s growth. Effective incentives for promoting renewable energy consumption are yet to be formulated [6].

In facing the above difficulties during the energy transition, renewable energy is recognized as the most important instrument and has attracted more and more attention. China has rich reserves of renewable energy. In recent years, the development of renewable energy has been impressively rapid. At present, renewable energy has accounted for nearly 30% of China’s electricity generation [7,8]. China has shown a great commitment to renewable energy. The target of renewable energy generation was set to taking up more than 50% of China’s total installed power generation by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan [9]. It is estimated that by 2060, China will invest about RMB 122 trillion to build a new power system with clean energy as the main body [10].

There are many studies on the renewable energy transition in China. They can be classified into two groups. The first group of studies focus on quantitative analysis of the development of renewable energy. For example, Zhang et al. adopted the China TIMES model to analyze the required renewable energy supply and electrification rate in achieving carbon peak. The results showed that if emissions peak in 2025, the carbon neutrality goal demands a 45–62% electrification rate and 47–78% renewable energy in primary energy supply in 2050 [11]. Another study predicted that by 2050, renewable energy would account for 60% of the total energy consumption and 90% of the total power generation and the electrification rate would be close to 60% [12]. Liu et al. studied the latest hourly wind and solar data from 2007–2014 and provided the optimal wind/solar ratio for hybrid wind-solar energy systems [13]. Wen et al. presented an approach for the quantitative analysis of energy transition. They explained whether China’s cumulative carbon emissions can match the emission allowances under the global 2 °C target and provided directions for the low-carbon transition.

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