China will begin to build a second round of large wind and photovoltaic (PV) power stations in sandy, rocky and arid parts of the country, requiring provinces to report a list for the second round of large new energy bases by December 15, according to a notice released by the National Energy Administration (NEA).

Photo taken on Nov. 24, 2021 shows a photovoltaic (PV) power station at Jiangji reservoir in Feidong County of Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. A PV power station with a designed installed capacity of 50 megawatts at Jiangji reservoir in Hefei was successfully connected to the grid on Nov. 30.(Photo:Xinhua)

According to the notice, China encourages the use of technologically advanced equipment, high-efficiency wind turbines and PV modules to boost new energy generation, with the scale of any single project to be no less than 1 million kilowatts.

And, the authorities also will support the construction of centralized and shared energy storage in order to maximize efficiency.

The notice detailed that the installed capacity of wind and PV power should match channel transmission capacity, with various peaking measures including flexibility transformation of coal power and hydropower storage.

This declaration signals the acceleration of the development of the country's new energy generation capacity, and the urgency of setting up new power systems, as well as reflecting the country's determination to pursue renewable energy resources, as it strives to achieve low-carbon development goals, analysts said.

On October 12, China's major renewable energy projects were announced at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), including major wind turbines and solar panel bases in sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts, with the first phase with an installed capacity of approximately 100 million kilowatts is now under construction.

At present, the first round of large new energy bases have already been set up with an installed capacity of 46 gigawatts (GW) and is expected to be connected to the grid by 2023.

Experts said that larger new energy bases will reduce construction and equipment costs as well as transmission costs by making full use of cross-provincial transmission channels. Experts also note that different types of power sources within a large base enjoy technical complementarity, which will ensure operational security of the power grid.

China has made a significant contribution to new energy generation. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the world's installed PV capacity stood at 760.4GW, according to the International Energy Agency. China topped global rankings with 48.2GW in new energy capacity, far surpassing the second place EU (19.6GW) and third place US (19.2GW).