China's renewable power potential in far-flung provinces is increasingly going unused, official statistics showed on Monday, as the country rushes to build more long-distance transmission and energy storage to bridge the gap.
The curtailment rate for solar power rose to 6.6% in the first half of 2025 from 3.9% in the same period a year earlier while the rate for wind rose to 5.7% from 3%, according to the National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center.
Curtailment refers to how much grid managers have to limit the amount of power coming into the grid to maintain a balance with demand or due to grid infrastructure constraints.
China has a national-level limit of 10% curtailment for renewables, a figure it relaxed last year from 5% previously as it became harder to incorporate rising amounts of renewable energy into the grid.
China added 268GW of new solar and wind power in January-June, according to the energy administrator - nearly equal to all of the wind and solar the United States has ever built.
On the curtailment front, China's national-level figures masked a larger increase in some renewable-heavy provinces.
