China’s Wind Capacity Increased 13% In First Quarter

China’s installed wind energy capacity has increased yet again, growing 13% in the first quarter over the same time a year earlier, bringing the country’s cumulative capacity up to 151 gigawatts.

These are the figures broadcast to the world by the Xinhua News Agency, the country’s official and state-owned press agency. According to Xinhua, quoting the National Energy Administration, the provinces of Qinghai, Shaanxi, Henan, and Hebei saw the largest wind energy capacity increases during the first quarter of 2017.

All in all, wind energy generated 68,700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity across the first quarter, an increase of 26% over the same quarter a year earlier.

China’s wind energy capacity has never been the whole story, however, with massive curtailment issues across the country. Curtailment numbers for the first quarter were a good story/bad story, with 13,500 GWh lost, but this figure was down 5,700 from the same quarter a year earlier.

Overall, China’s power consumption rose by 6.9% in the first quarter, a 3.7% higher increase, while the country’s energy intensity decreased by 3.8%.

The Xinhua story also noted that “China’s total energy consumption will be capped at 5 billion tonnes of coal equivalent by 2020, according to a government plan for 2016 to 2020. This will amount to a 15 percent reduction of energy use per unit of GDP by 2020.”