China harnesses new energy technologies to propel green, low-carbon devt

BEIJING (Dec 28): One of China’s latest breakthroughs in renewable energy – a high-altitude wind power system resembling an airborne kite – successfully completed trial runs in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in November, marking a significant step in the country’s pursuit of green, low-carbon development.

The innovative technology captures wind energy at altitudes above 300 meters using an umbrella-like unit tethered to a cable.

This “umbrella-ladder” land-based high-altitude wind power generation system operates by ascending to high altitudes, where it unfolds to harness wind force, and drives ground-based equipment, converting wind energy first into mechanical energy and then into electricity.

High-altitude wind energy offers advantages such as abundant reserves, high power density, and stable wind direction compared to traditional onshore and offshore wind power.

Using high-altitude wind power generation technology is of great significance for promoting wind power and its industrialisation, according to Cao Lun of China Energy Engineering Group Co Ltd.

This achievement is just a part of China’s use of new energy technologies amid its push toward green, low-carbon development.

In 2024, China added 79.8 million kilowatts of wind power capacity, accounting for 68.2 per cent of the global increase, becoming the main driving force behind growth in the global wind power market, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

By the end of 2024, China’s total installed wind power capacity reached 521 million kilowatts, representing 45.8 per cent of the global total.

The average utilisation rate of wind power hit 95.9 per cent in 2024, underscoring its evolution from a supplementary source to a reliable pillar of the energy supply.

Further evidence of progress comes from official data. In the first quarter of 2025, electricity generated from wind and photovoltaics reached 536.4 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 22.5 per cent of China’s total power use, a 4.3 percentage-point year-on-year increase.

By the end of March 2025, installed wind and photovoltaic capacity hit 1.482 billion kilowatts, surpassing thermal power for the first time in history, according to the National Energy Administration.

China’s new energy technologies and equipment manufacturing have led the world.

China has built the world’s largest environmentally clean power supply system, with new-energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products gaining international competitiveness, according to the 12th group study session held last year by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on new energy technology.

For instance, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 51.6 per cent in October, or 1.71 million units, surpassing the sales of conventional fuel vehicles, according to the latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

As of the end of November, China’s charging piles for electric vehicles exceeded 19.32 million, up 52 per cent year on year.

International recognition abounds, with Gilles Requena of the European Patent Office noting in March 2025 that patent applications in electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy saw the highest global growth in 2024, driven by innovation in green technologies such as batteries, where China leads.

“China has seen increasingly vibrant innovation in green and low-carbon technologies, with 53,000 invention patents granted in the sector in 2024 alone,” said Liang Xinxin, an official of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, at a press conference in July.

The 2024 figure, which doubled 2020’s, reflects an average annual growth rate of 19.2 per cent.

The clean energy and energy storage sectors showed robust growth, with respective invention patent authorisations rising 34.9 per cent and 32.8 per cent year on year – the highest increases among all green technology categories, Liang noted.

On the policy front, China unveiled a roadmap on Dec 23, 2025, to accelerate solar thermal power development, aiming to reach 15 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2030.

This aligns with China’s ambitions to build a globally competitive industry with domestically controllable technology, as construction costs have halved over the past decade.

Underpinning these efforts is China’s commitment to climate goals. As outlined in the white paper ‘Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality: China’s Plans and Solutions’ last month, China has established the world’s most systematic and comprehensive carbon-reduction policy framework, five years after it announced in 2020 its 2030 peak-carbon and 2060 neutrality targets.

Through concrete action and painstaking effort, China has built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system, developed the largest and most comprehensive new energy industrial chain globally, and achieved the world’s largest and fastest promotion and adoption of new energy vehicles, the white paper noted.

On Sept 24, 2025, at the United Nations Climate Summit, China clarified its 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions, aiming to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 7-10 per cent from peak levels and increase non-fossil fuel share to over 30 per cent of energy consumption and to expand its installed wind and solar power capacity to more than six times the 2020 level by 2035 – working hard to elevate this capacity to 3,600 gigawatts.

Shi Yubo, chairman of the China Energy Research Society, emphasised at an international forum on carbon peak and carbon neutrality on Nov 24, 2025, in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province, that “the significant achievements China has made in the dual carbon process are inseparable from the in-depth involvement of technological innovation.”

Highlighting that advanced technologies are accelerating the green and low-carbon transition, Zhai Qing, former vice minister of ecology and environment, said at the international forum that China has achieved breakthroughs in key areas such as renewable energy, forming a ‘China solution’ with international influence. – Xinhua