4 The Transition of China’s Power System
129
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Installed Capacity/10,000 kW
Fig. 4.17 Rural hydropower installed capacity by region at the end of 2018
construction of small hydropower projects in rural areas, they may very well become
the leading source of power for rural communities and remote mountainous areas
across the country.
The scale of distributed wind power remains limited in China. A growing number
of provinces have announced plans for the development of decentralized wind power
in recent years. Table 4.5 shows the regions with a planned distributed wind power
capacity exceeding 1 million kW.
Currently, the most popular application of PV systems is rooftop photovoltaic
installation. In 2019, 12.2 million kW of distributed PV capacity were installed
nationwide, accounting for 40.5% of newly installed PV capacity and 11% of newly
electricity. The cumulative installed capacity of distributed PV stood at 62.63 million
kW at the end of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 24.2%. Distributed PV capacity
represented 30.5% of all PV capacity and 3.1% of total installed power capacity.
Topping the chart in terms of distributed PV capacity were Shandong (9.42 million
kW), Zhejiang (9.42 million kW), and Jiangsu (6.56 million kW).
Table 4.5 Regions with a planned distributed wind power capacity exceeding 1 million kW
Region
Date of announcement
Planned capacity
(10,000 kW)
Construction period
Henan
August 2019
453.7
“13th Five-Year Plan”
period
Inner Mongolia
July 2019
122.0
2019–2020
Hubei
June 2019
113.5
2019
Hebei
January 2018
701.2
2018–2025
Guizhou
April 2013
120.0
2013–2020