China’s rapid progress in the renewable energy sector has played a pivotal role in advancing the European Union’s (EU) green transition.
Pedro Amaral Jorge, president of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, highlighted the growing cooperation between China and Portugal in the solar energy sector, as Portugal aims to install approximately 8 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2026 or 2027 and reach 22 GW by 2030.
“To achieve the objectives set for increasing installed capacity, cooperation with China must increase,” Jorge told Xinhua in an interview, as President Xi Jinping begins his first trip to Europe since the covid-19 pandemic.
EDP developing 4.3 GW of renewables capacity in Europe, Americas and Asia
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, an association for the European solar PV sector, has warned that Europe must ramp up its solar deployment to meet the necessary targets, while WindEurope, a major wind energy association, also stressed the need for immediate action.
China’s green energy equipment manufacturing industry is well-established and competitive. Chinese solar products and wind turbines would be indispensible for EU to achieve its 2030 emission reduction targets, said Qin Yan, a lead analyst at Refinitiv and researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
In fact, many European countries have reaped the benefits of green energy collaboration with China in recent years.
The Iberdrola group, a leading Spanish multinational electric utility company, inaugurated the Francisco Pizarro photovoltaic (PV) plant, Europe’s largest, in 2022, with around 1.5 million solar panels imported from China. The plant’s clean energy output is substantial, catering to the needs of 334,000 households and creating over 1,500 jobs.
The European Green Deal, launched by the European Commission in 2019, targets net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To achieve this, the EU has pledged to increase the binding renewable energy share to at least 42.5 percent by 2030. However, with the current renewable energy share at approximately 23 percent, innovation is urgently needed.
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