China now has enough wind and solar to power every home

China’s National Energy Administration has reported that the country installed a combined 125GW of new wind and solar capacity in 2022, bringing its total cumulative renewable energy capacity to over 1,200GW.

Out of the new renewable energy capacity added was 37.6GW of new wind energy capacity and a whopping 87.4GW of newly installed solar power, according to Wang Dapeng, an official with the National Energy Administration (NEA) speaking during a news briefing held in Beijing on Monday.

While the impact of new generating capacity installed during 2022 will only really be felt when looking at 2023’s numbers, the NEA also reported that renewable energy account for 47.3% of China’s total power generation capacity at the end of 2022, up 2.5% compared to 2021.

Interestingly, as highlighted by Bloomberg News, China’s wind and solar is now generating almost enough electricity to power every home in China.

With renewable generation surpassing 1,190TWh in 2022, and residential power consumption hitting 1,350TWh, the near match is a big milestone for China.

This does not include industrial power consumption and only 17% of electricity use was classified as residential in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Though this will have increased during the two years of the chaotic Covid-19 pandemic, China’s industry nevertheless remains king.