According to updated statistics, wind and solar power generated in State Grid Corporation of China service areas reached 294.7 TWh in the first half of 2020. This number shows an increase of 15% compared to one year ago and occupies 11.4% of the gross generation, up by 1.6% from the previous year. The utilization ratio of wind and solar power reached 96.9% during this period, 0.9% higher year-on-year. The ratio was adjusted to 98.7% after eliminating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter as required by the National Energy Administration.
2020 marks both the final year of the 13th Five-Year Plan and 2018-20 Action Plan of Clean Energy Consumption. State Grid is firmly implementing the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, actively asserting its role as a grid platform, providing grid connection service, strengthening united dispatching across the grid, and continuously improving services to promote the development and consumption of clean energy.
In the first half of the year, wind and solar power generated in State Grid service areas increased by 12.3% and 19.2% respectively. Thanks to the abundant wind and solar resources, the total renewable generation in the grids of North, Northeast, and Northwest China exceeded 230.1 TWh. The renewables utilization ratios in the three regions registered 99.5%, 99.5%, and 96.4% respectively when eliminating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter.
Many parts of South China saw heavy rainfall since the beginning of this summer. State Grid relied on UHV projects in resource allocation over large areas and took multiple measures to support the consumption of hydropower. Hydropower generation in the Southwest China grid reached 37.6 TWh, an increase of 13% year-on-year, and the estimated outbound hydropower transactions reached 33.3 TWh. In the Central China grid, hydropower generation increased by 3% with utilization ratio of 99.97%, and 14.14 GWh of electricity from other regions was consumed. In the East China grid, 13.498 TWh of hydropower from other regions and 9.2 TWh of local hydropower were consumed, and renewable power therein was fully accommodated.
On the demand side, State Grid carried out the electricity replacement strategy to boost green development, increase the share of electricity in end-use consumption, and promote decarbonization in clean heating, transportation, industrial and agricultural production and other key fields.
In the first half of the year, despite the pandemic, State Grid completed its annual coal-to-electricity heating task in rural areas earlier than previous years, with 2.585 million households converting to clean heating, and conducted a general survey of power consumption for 2,47,000 high-voltage customers. The company promoted the construction of shore power along the Yangtze River, implementing 517 projects. It also carried out the analysis of end-use energy to tap the potential of electricity replacement, actively implementing the electrification of boilers, drying equipment, and vegetable greenhouses, and promoting full use of electric equipment for heating, hot water and cooking on campus. From January to June, State Grid fulfilled the electricity replacement of 91.6 TWh, an increase of 7.7% from a year earlier, equivalent to the reduction of scattered coal burning by 51.29 million tons, carbon dioxide emissions by 91.33 million tons, and sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust pollutants by 29.04 million tons.
