Guizhou's clean energy development increases steadily, rapidly

Wind driven generators in Digua town, Guizhou's Puan county. [Photo/ddcpc website]

During the past five years, Southwest China's Guizhou province has been focusing on the supply of coal and electricity, the development of basic energy and clean energy, and the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system.

In 2021, Guizhou's installed capacity of electricity was 75.73 million kW, and the generated energy was 240.7 billion kWh.

With the province's outdated production facilities shut down, Guizhou's number of coal mines decreased from 1,189 in 2016 to 775 in 2021, and all the coal mines each with an annual output volume of less than 300,000 metric tons were shut down.

Guizhou also grasped the opportunity to boost the high-quality development of the new energy industry. In 2021, Guizhou's installed capacity of new energy reached 17.6 million kW, which is 3.2 times of that in 2016.

Generated new energy was 20.5 billion kWh in 2021, which is 2.5 times than that in 2016, and the investment in the new energy industry was 20 billion yuan ($3.14 billion), which is double the figures in 2016.

Guizhou has achieved breakthroughs in unconventional gas extraction, with the output volume increasing from zero in 2016 to 117 million cubic meters in 2021. By the end of 2021, Guizhou constructed 3,194 kilometers of natural gas pipelines that connect 68 counties.

In 2022, the Guizhou Energy Administration will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the province's energy industry, enhance the reform of the electricity market, optimize the combination of coal and new energy, and increase the investment in new and comprehensive national energy base construction.