The total new electricity production in China in 2019 reaches 330 terawatt-hours (TWh). Renewable energy sources (RES) are dominant in this regard, while China is still at the forefront of selling electric vehicles.

New energy production from RES exceeds that from coal. As preliminary data on the Chinese electricity system in 2019 are available on the China Energy Portal website, shedding light on current changes in the transformation of the Chinese energy system. The share of heat production (in which almost 90% comes from burning coal) drops to just below 70% for the first time.

China’s electricity production increased by 330 TWh last year. This corresponds to more than half of Germany’s total electricity production in 2019. China’s power plants generated 7,255 TWh last year, double its total European electricity production.

Of the 330 TWh of newly generated energy, 120 TWh comes from thermal power plants, mainly coal. Meanwhile, RES, including hydropower, adds nearly 160 TWh. The remaining increase is provided by seven new nuclear power plants that have come into operation.

Obviously, heat and hydrogeneration are rising from a high base, while new wind and solar power generation are much higher on a percentage basis. With an increase of almost 20 percent, nuclear production is also growing significantly in 2019.

Despite stronger renewable electricity generation in 2019 compared to 2018, newly generated amounts of hydropower, wind, and photovoltaics recorded the slowest growth since 2014. While newly generated wind power reaches 26 GW, this of solar energy decreases by a third. In 2019, only 30 GW of new solar power was installed in China. This is due to the fact that support policies for new solar panels have been limited.

At the end of 2019, about 3.8 million electric vehicles were on Chinese roads. This exceeds twice the number of US-registered electric vehicles. However, annual sales of electric vehicles in China decrease by 52,000 units to about 1.2 million in 2019. However, these new 1.2 million electric vehicles represent more than 50 percent of the worldwide electric vehicle sales scale last year. For comparison, Germany added 108,600 new electric cars to its fleet in 2019, placing it third after the United States.

While renewable generation is growing further in 2019, demand is also increasing. Thus, renewable energy in China contributes to about 26 percent of total electricity production. The impacts of changes to renewable projects in 2019 will come to the fore in 2020 and 2021.

China’s new 5-year plan, which will also include future renewables measures, should be ready this year.