# China Hit Its Wind and Solar Goal Six Years Early  ## About - Author: Bill Spindle - Title: China Hit Its Wind and Solar Goal Six Years Early - Tags: #articles - URL: https://www.ciphernews.com/articles/china-hit-its-wind-and-solar-goal-six-years-early/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-90BYB-mkwbbQTgc_ciOMyZaSxTgDlJGM2_p-zTbzUCUV3XpuJFHWktCVVI7fTDM0S84iUe5jmmRIwXnXj_ao-17rurLA&_hsmi=325184908&utm_medium=email&utm_content=325184908&utm_source=hs_email ## Highlights China is facing a challenge familiar to many other countries — how to upgrade the country’s infrastructure so it can actually use all that renewable capacity. China’s grid was built for coal power, which generates electricity constantly, so it is struggling to adapt to wind and solar, which only generate power when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. - Note: How do you design for intermittent power? --- Between 2000 and 2023, China’s annual electricity consumption increased nearly sevenfold, and “this has created an opportunity of growth for all kinds of power capacity in order to meet the demand,” Hu Min, director and co-founder of the Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress, a Beijing-based think tank, told Cipher. - Note: That is a huge step up in usage! --- “In many provinces, wind and solar projects are required to be paired with energy storage facilities to minimize curtailment,” Yang explained. China has also been planning and building ultra-high-voltage power lines to send wind and solar power from the north and the northwest to its major cities hundreds of miles away on the eastern and southern coasts. But the government hasn’t planned enough lines and is building them too slowly, according to a recent [report](https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GEM-China-wind-solar-brief-July2024.pdf) by Global Energy Monitor. Yang agreed. He explained it is quicker to build a wind or solar farm than a power line — the former may take around two years, and the latter three to five years. - Note: Interesting that the Chinese government underestimated the number of power lines needed - it's a similar mistake that gets made when planning highways. ---