China's renewable energy capacity expands in January and February

China's installed renewable energy capacity recorded robust growth in the first two months of the year, showed the data from the National Energy Administration, as reported by Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

By the end of February, wind power installed capacity rose by 11 per cent annually to about 370 million kilowatts, and solar power capacity stood at about 410 million kilowatts, marking a robust annual increase of 30.8 per cent.

The country's total installed power generation capacity reached about 2.6 billion kilowatts at the end of February, increasing 8.5 per cent annually.

The country has increased its investment in renewable energy over the years to pursue green development.

In the first two months, total investment by major Chinese companies in solar power nearly tripled from a year ago to 28.3 billion yuan ($4.12 billion), showed the data.

Renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a rate faster than they are consumed. Examples of these constantly replenished sources are sunlight and wind. Renewable sources can provide huge amounts of energy and are all around us.

Today, renewable energy is a cheaper alternative in most countries and creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels.

Solar energy is the richest of all energy resources and can be used even in cloudy weather. The rate at which solar energy is captured by the Earth is about 10,000 times greater than the rate at which humanity consumes energy.

Wind power uses the kinetic energy of moving air using large wind turbines located on land (onshore wind farms) or in sea or freshwater (offshore/coastal wind farms). Wind energy has been used for thousands of years, but in the past few years onshore and offshore wind power technology has evolved to maximise the amount of electricity produced by higher turbines and larger diameter rotating parts.

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