China Leads Wave of Clean Power Wastage as Grids Globally Hit Limits
Grid constraints and rising coal generation drove curtailment to 360 TWh, and analysts said the waste is pushing developers toward storage-backed solar projects.
- China rejected 360 terawatt-hours of wind and solar power between January and June, a 49% increase from the same period last year, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor .
- Expanding coal generation forces grid operators to prioritize coal over cheaper renewables, as China's coal-fired capacity rose 3.4% year-on-year. "China's coal buildout is a warning about overcapacity, not a blueprint for energy security," said Qi Qin, China analyst at the research centre.
- While the National Energy Administration reported lower rates, CREA and GEM calculated 26.1% rejection using weather-adjusted data. Australia and Japan also faced rising curtailment, with 2.93 TWh and 2.35 TWh rejected respectively in the first half.
- New solar installations fell 66% this year as curtailment risks mount. "Curtailment in China is structural, not a temporary bottleneck," said Yuan Ren, analyst at Wood Mackenzie, complicating financial assessments for developers.
- Battery storage deployment offers a potential mitigation path forward. "Chile added 4 GWh of batteries in 2025, more than doubling its installed capacity," said Kostantsa Rangelova, analyst at Ember, highlighting Chile and Bulgaria as replicable models.
11 Articles
11 Articles
China leads wave of clean power wastage as grids globally hit limits
China's Renewables Boom Faces Record Clean Power Curtailments
Grid constraints and rising coal-fired power generation in China led to soaring curtailment rates of solar and wind power generation in the first half of the year. China curtailed as much as 360 terawatt-hours (TWh) of solar and wind generation between January and June, up by 49% from a year earlier, a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) showed. All the clean electricity curtailed woul…
Due to grid constraints and coal priority in China, the amount of electricity generated from solar and wind power but not fed into the grid increased by 49% year-on-year to 360 TWh in January-June. The country plans to invest $3 trillion in infrastructure.
China's power grids are struggling to keep up with rapidly growing renewable energy production. The country wasted enough clean energy in the first half of the year to power Mexico for an entire year.
China Curtails Clean Energy Amid Grid Constraints
China is rejecting record amounts of renewable energy as electricity grid constraints struggle to keep pace with the country’s rapid expansion of wind and solar power generation. A report published by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) estimates that China curtailed 360 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean electricity between January and June 2026, a 49 per cent increase compared with the same period …
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