China's renewable energy reports record high installed capacity in 2017

BEIJING - China's renewable energy registered an installed capacity of 650 million kilowatts in 2017, a record high, according to a senior energy official.

The renewable energy made up 36.6 percent of the country's total installed capacity of power and generated electricity of 1.7 trillion kilowatt hours last year, according to Liu Baohua, deputy head of the National Energy Administration.

China made better use of renewable energy with less waste last year. The Utilization rate of hydraulic power reached about 96 percent while curtailment rates of wind power and photovoltaic power dropped by 5.2 percentage points and 4.3 percentage points, respectively.

The country plans to raise the percentage of non-fossil fuel power consumption to 15 percent of the total energy mix by 2020 and to 20 percent by 2030.

"China still has much room for improvement in power utilization and the government aims to control waste of renewable power to within a reasonable range in three years," Liu said.