State Grid Corporation of China, the country’s largest grid operator, plans to invest up to $574 billion by 2030, a roughly 40% increase in fixed-asset spending compared with the previous five-year period, as China races to upgrade its power networks. The massive investment comes amid soaring renewable energy installations and rising electricity demand, which have strained transmission and distribution systems and forced curtailments of solar and wind output.
Covering 88% of China’s land area and serving more than 1.1 billion people, State Grid aims to expand and modernize the grid to keep pace with clean energy growth. China is also pushing to more than double battery storage capacity to 180 GW by 2027 to support renewables. The spending underscores China’s position as the world’s largest energy investor, outpacing both the European Union and the United States.
Note by Alessandro Bazzoni