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Interview with CEO of Energy Foundation: China's renewable energy has entered the era of "negative cost"

2025-11-27   

At the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Bel é m, Brazil, China's new round of nationally determined contributions targets attracted much attention. Zou Ji, CEO and China Regional President of the Energy Foundation, stated in an interview with China News Service that China's renewable energy has entered the era of "negative costs", which provides solid support for achieving climate goals. In September of this year, China announced a new round of national independent contribution targets. Among them, by 2035, China's net greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy will decrease by 7% -10% compared to the peak, striving to do better. The proportion of non fossil energy consumption in the total energy consumption is over 30%, and the total installed capacity of wind and solar power generation is more than six times that of 2020, striving to reach 3.6 billion kilowatts. Zou Ji pointed out that in the context of uncertainty in global climate governance, China, as a major power, has taken the lead in clarifying the new round of national independent contribution targets, demonstrating its determination to address climate change and injecting positive momentum into the global implementation of climate action. He emphasized that the statement 'striving to do better' reflects China's confidence in climate governance. There is a precedent for China to 'submit papers' ahead of schedule, "Zou Ji cited data stating that as of July 2024, China's installed capacity of wind and solar power has reached 1.206 billion kilowatts, exceeding the 2030 target by six years ahead of schedule. He believes that these achievements are due to the synergistic effects of efficient government governance, large-scale markets, complete industrial chains, strong infrastructure, and engineering talent resources. He further pointed out that China's renewable energy technology has entered the "negative cost" stage, which means that the development of wind and solar power "will not only not incur losses, but also create profits". This provides solid support for China to achieve its national independent contribution goals and even do better. When it comes to the current development status of renewable energy in China, Zou Ji gave a set of key data: the proportion of wind and solar power generation in the total electricity consumption in China has increased from 9.7% in 2020 to 18.6% in 2024, with an average annual increase of over 2 percentage points. He admitted that compared to economies such as the UK and Germany, where wind and solar power accounts for over 40% of the total electricity consumption, China still has a gap. But the overall trend is very clear, and the gap is narrowing. "According to the Energy Foundation's calculations, in the next five years, the proportion of wind and solar power generation in China's total electricity consumption is expected to gradually increase from the current 20% to 30% or even higher, and the pace of catching up will continue to accelerate. Of course, this requires a transformation of the physical characteristics of the power grid from traditional to new, including relying on technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, as well as redesigning the electricity market, to address issues such as wind solar intermittency and insufficient flexibility resources in the power grid, "said Zou Ji. With the rapid increase in the proportion of renewable energy, the structure of the power grid will undergo fundamental changes. Zou Ji pointed out that distributed renewable energy will play an important role in the future power system, and deep-sea offshore wind power will also become a benign support. I hope that in the next 10 to 20 years, China can build a new type of power grid structure that meets the needs of green and low-carbon transformation. Zou Ji said, "We have more optimistic expectations for China's climate action, which will not only promote our own green transformation, but also inject positive momentum into the implementation of global climate action

Edit:Yi Yi Responsible editor:Li Nian

Source:WWW.CHINANEWS.COM.CN

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