China leads world in renewable power curtailment
Tehran - BORNA - Curtailment — the deliberate reduction of wind or solar generation when the grid cannot absorb additional electricity — has become a growing challenge for renewable energy systems worldwide and underscores the continued reliance of many power systems on fossil fuels.
China, the world’s largest producer of solar power, curtailed 360 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean electricity between January and June, according to a joint report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released this month.
The figure was 49 percent higher than in the same period last year and substantially exceeded the level reported by Chinese authorities.
Analysts say insufficient transmission infrastructure, along with power-supply contracts that guarantee the operation of China’s newer coal-fired power plants, has resulted in part of the country’s abundant renewable generation being pushed out of the grid.
Yuan Ren, an analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said China’s curtailment problem was structural rather than a temporary bottleneck, meaning the pressure is expected to persist through the end of the decade.
Rising renewable power curtailment, combined with China’s new policy of phasing out guaranteed fixed prices for renewable electricity, has contributed to a 66 percent decline in newly installed solar capacity in the country this year.
At the same time, electricity generation from China’s coal-fired power plants is expected to rise again, reversing a decade-long downward trend.
China’s National Energy Administration said 8.6 percent of solar generation and 9.1 percent of wind generation was curtailed in the first half of the year. However, estimates by GEM and CREA put combined wind and solar curtailment at 26.1 percent.
The problem is not limited to China.
In Australia’s National Electricity Market, renewable power curtailment rose 37 percent in the first half of 2026 to 2.93 TWh, equivalent to seven percent of wind and solar generation.
Japan’s grid rejected 2.35 TWh of renewable electricity during the same period, up 34 percent year on year and equivalent to four percent of the country’s renewable generation.
In India, 8.13 TWh of solar electricity was curtailed in the quarter through June, representing about 14 percent of the country’s solar output.
Costanza Ranglova, an analyst at energy think tank Ember, said the rapid and efficient deployment of battery storage could help address renewable energy curtailment worldwide, pointing to Bulgaria and Chile as examples that could be replicated elsewhere.
According to Reuters, Ranglova said Chile added four gigawatt-hours of battery capacity in 2025, more than doubling its installed storage capacity.
Much of the new battery storage was installed alongside solar power plants, helping limit renewable energy curtailment.
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