(April 2): More wind and solar power is going to waste in China as record additions of turbines and panels in recent years continue to strain the grid.

About 6.2% of wind power and 6.1% of solar power were curtailed in the first two months of the year, an agency under the National Energy Administration said in a report. Over the same period in 2024, just 4% of wind and 4.3% of solar were unable to be used.

Developers are forced to curtail output when too much power hits the grid at once, overwhelming demand and threatening to damage equipment and infrastructure. China has set an all-time high for new wind and solar installations each of the past two years, providing massive amounts of clean energy to meet growing demand.

It also means that a lot of generation comes on at the same time when the wind blows and the sun shines. Grid operators are boosting spending to record levels this year to build batteries and power lines to store or transport that electricity and make sure more of it gets used, but at the moment they’re playing catch-up.

Even the higher curtailment rates China is facing this year pale in comparison to what happened during a previous renewables boom last decade, when Gansu province had to waste nearly half of the wind power generated over a six-month period in 2016. China loosened rules last year to allow regions to keep deploying renewables even when curtailment rates hit 10%, up from a previous cap of 5%.

Tibet led all regions, curtailing 27.5% of its wind and 32.2% of its solar power. In all, three regions and provinces exceeded 10% curtailments for wind, and five regions went above the level for solar.

Uploaded by Arion Yeow