Despite the poor performance from China’s renewable plants and the country’s excess generating capacity, Apple recently launched a $300 million clean energy fund that is expected to fund additional renewable energy generation in China
China High in Renewable Capacity, But Not in Production Efficiency
The growth of China’s economy and electricity demand have slowed in recent years. Yet, its construction program has continued for all types of generating plants, making them run at much lower capacity factors than their design capability. In particular, by the end of 2017, China had over twice the wind and solar capacity that the United States had, but the capacity factors of their solar and wind units were about half that of similar technologies in the United States, making China one of the least efficient renewable energy generators in the world.