Electric spark of inspiration

China’s rising renewable energy capacity offers a reference for the Global South

According to China’s National Energy Administration, the country’s total installed renewable energy capacity has reached 2.34 billion kilowatts, roughly 60 percent of the total installed power capacity. Nearly 40 percent of the electricity consumed in China now comes from renewable sources. During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, China built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system.

Such a leapfrog achievement is the result of a spectrum of structural factors, including institutional reforms, infrastructure planning, innovative applications and supply chain advantages. For other Global South countries grappling with the twin challenges of the energy transition and industrialization, China’s experience offers several useful lessons.

First, China has developed a comprehensive infrastructure system to support the generation and consumption of renewable energy. To supply green electricity, China has built large-scale wind and solar bases in desert areas, the Gobi and other arid areas, adding more than 130 million kW of newly installed capacity, supported by ultra-high-voltage transmission lines that allow electricity to be dispatched efficiently across regions.

Second, to support its huge demand for electricity, China has built the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network and begun integrating vehicle-to-grid technology, encouraging EV users to help balance grid loads. China has developed the world’s largest and most complete new energy industry chain, fostering a competitive and self-reliant ecosystem that delivers strong advantages in both cost and technological maturity.

For instance, the photovoltaic base in Ningdong, Ningxia Hui autonomous region operates with a fully localized supply chain, driving down the cost of energy. Data released by the National Energy Administration showed that China’s new energy storage capacity reached 168 million kWh by the end of 2024, accounting for over 40 percent of the global total, providing crucial support for grid stability.

Third, China is expanding and diversifying the application of renewable energy, prioritizing integrated multi-energy systems and the coordinated development of computing capacity and electricity supply. One action is to build micro-grids in zero-carbon industrial parks to supply industrial energy with integrated systems combining wind, solar and hydrogen production and storage.

Another is to promote pilot programs linking computing capacity and electricity supply. Data centers are encouraged to be built near renewable energy sources, allowing them to consume green electricity efficiently.

The growing volatility in the global energy landscape in recent years has posed significant challenges to the energy transitions of some Global South countries.

In some cases, renewable energy plans have set ambitious targets without fully accounting for domestic realities, such as fiscal capacity, resource endowments and technological capabilities. In attempting to replicate the transition models of advanced economies, some governments have produced plans that are not well aligned with their practical needs.

Financing and infrastructure constraints remain major barriers. In Africa, the cost of funding clean energy projects is two to three times higher than in developed economies. And the continent receives only about 2 percent of global clean energy investment, a striking mismatch with its vast resources and population.

It is said in the report “Financing Electricity Access in Africa” released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 600 million people lack access to electricity due to limited grid coverage, which also prevents large renewable projects from connecting to the power system. In parts of Latin America, aging grids require costly upgrades before they can accommodate new capacity.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, China aims not only to upgrade its own renewable energy system but also to deepen cooperation with other Global South countries to advance the green transition.

For many developing economies, the starting point is to design green energy policies that match the maturity of their electricity markets and fiscal capacity. At an early stage, governments could consider establishing renewable energy consumption quotas, requiring large industrial users, such as mining and manufacturing enterprises, to purchase a minimum share of green electricity. This would help create stable demand for renewable power.

As markets mature, countries could introduce green certificate trading systems, and reform electricity pricing to allow clean energy sources to participate more fully in market competition. Policy design should follow a more pragmatic road map: starting with supporting renewable energy so that it can establish a solid foothold, and gradually exposing it to market competition. Such a pathway helps ensure the sector grows steadily.

For countries with limited grid coverage, waiting for the costly extension of national or cross-border transmission networks may not be the best option. Instead, they could draw on China’s experience to focus on developing distributed generation, interconnected micro-grids and multi-layer energy systems.

In cities and industrial clusters, distributed solar paired with storage can supply electricity locally while reducing reliance on long-distance transmission. In rural and remote regions, household solar systems and stand-alone micro-grids can provide immediate access to electricity. In resource-rich areas, hybrid systems combining hydropower, wind, solar and storage can smooth fluctuations in renewable output and improve supply reliability.

China’s experience also shows that the growth of renewable energy is closely tied to the development of a complete industry supply chain. Other Global South countries can move beyond simply importing equipment, and aim to bring parts of the value chain onshore through technology transfer, joint ventures and other mechanisms. One example is the De Aar wind power project developed through China-Africa cooperation. Financed by Chinese investment and managed locally, the project maintains an 80 percent local workforce, facilitating technology transfer and the development of local talent.

Renewable energy development in Global South countries should be tailored to local resource endowments. China’s experiments offer several examples. In agricultural economies, agrisolar systems allow farmland to produce both crops and electricity. In countries rich in hydropower resources, integrated hydro-wind-solar projects can use existing dams to balance intermittent generation and improve the utilization of transmission lines. And in ecologically fragile regions, the construction of solar farms can be combined with desert control or ecological restoration efforts, allowing power stations to support environmental recovery.

Shao Shuai is a distinguished professor at the School of Economics and Management and the Laboratory for Urban High-Quality Development and Planning Decision-Making at Tongji University. Liu Zeyu is a researcher at the same school and the same laboratory.

The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.