According to official statistics, China’s vast renewable energy potential in remote provinces is increasingly going untapped.
The country is accelerating efforts to develop long-distance transmission systems and energy storage solutions to address this growing issue, as reported by Reuters.
In the first half of 2025, the curtailment rate for solar power rose to 6.6%, up from 3.9% during the same period of 2024.
Wind power curtailment also rose, reaching 5.7% compared to 3% in the previous year, as reported by the National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Centre.
Curtailment refers to the necessity for grid managers to limit the amount of electricity entering the grid to maintain a balance with demand or due to constraints in grid infrastructure.
China has a national curtailment limit of 10% for renewable energy, relaxed from 5% in 2024 as the integration of increasing renewable energy into the grid became more challenging.
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By GlobalDataIn the first half of 2025, China added an impressive 268GW of new solar and wind power capacity, almost matching the total amount of wind and solar energy ever installed in the US.
However, national figures on curtailment obscure significant increases in certain provinces heavily reliant on renewable energy.
For instance, Tibet experienced a 30.2% curtailment of its wind power, a sharp rise from just 2.3% in 2024, while solar power curtailment in the region jumped to 33.9% from 5.1%.
Similarly, Qinghai province curtailed 15.2% of its solar power, an increase from 8.8%.
In contrast, regions with higher electricity demand, such as the megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing, reported minimal curtailment rates, with no curtailment recorded in these areas or in Fujian province.
The low utilisation of renewable energy sources is prompting China to shift its focus from merely constructing renewable power plants to ensuring that more of this energy is effectively integrated into the grid.
Natixis economist Haoxin Mu stated: “China will still push for decarbonisation, but not necessarily on renewable installation. China might switch its policy focus or target focus from installation volume to utilisation.
Mu and other analysts emphasise the need for enhanced energy storage solutions, which could facilitate the storage of excess power when supply exceeds demand.
The rising rates of curtailment are also driving China’s investment in significant projects, such as the world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet.
Hydropower can be regulated to match energy needs, unlike wind and solar power, which are non-dispatchable and dependent on weather conditions.
In response to the increasing curtailment of non-hydro renewables since 2023, China is also investing in high-voltage power transmission infrastructure.
This initiative aims to transport electricity from large power plants in the western regions to the energy-hungry cities in the east, as noted by analysts at BMI.
