(Yicai) Aug. 12 -- Sichuan, the biggest hydropower producing province in China, plans to increase the amount of electricity generated by other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar over the next five years to reduce its reliance on hydropower.

Sichuan province will add an average of 10 million kilowatts a year of new energy installed capacity until 2030 to form two main sources of electricity supply, namely hydropower and new energy power, the province’s energy bureau chief Deng Chao said on Aug. 9.

Sichuan has been focussed on developing hydropower over the past two decades, but now that hydropower development is peaking, this is a great opportunity for the southwestern province to rapidly develop wind and solar energy, Deng said.

Sichuan urgently needs to diversify its energy mix. Heat waves in 2022 led to a drop in water levels, resulting in tight power supply. Many factories and businesses were forced to suspend operations at the time and reduce their electricity usage.

The province’s total installed capacity is more than 130 million kW, of which hydropower accounts for 76 percent at 100 million kW, said Deng. Wind and solar-generated electricity output was only 15.8 million kW as of the end of June. This is not because there is insufficient wind and solar resources but rather because of the province’s energy development strategy.

The cost to build wind and solar power plants used to be two to three times that of hydropower stations, but now that China is the world’s biggest wind and photovoltaic power equipment maker, the cost is even lower than that of hydropower, Deng said.

Already wind and solar power installed capacity is more than two-and-a-half times that what it was at the end of 2020, said Xu Jialong, general manager of State Grid Sichuan Electric Power. Under the new strategy, the province plans to have an installed new energy capacity of 32 million kW in 2025 which will expand to 82 million kW in 2030.

There is enough wind and solar resources to generate 270 million kW of electricity, so there is great development potential, Xu added.

Editor: Kim Taylor