The dynamic capital of Shandong province may embody China's ambivalence toward the climate crisis. The country, which emits by far the most CO2 (a third of global emissions for a population representing just under a fifth of the world's total), is also the one making the most effort to install renewable energy sources. The city of Jinan, with a population of over 5 million and bordered by the Yellow River to the north and the sacred Tai Mountain to the south, is constantly under construction, with fields of solar panels sprouting up alongside brand-new coal-fired power plants.
"There's still a lot of coal consumption because otherwise we wouldn't have enough electricity, but we can imagine that one day, green energy will replace it," said Chen Ying, standing on her doorstep, on the western edge of the city. The 36-year-old woman and her family benefit directly from the change. Early in the summer of 2023, representatives of a state-mandated solar panel installation company approached them with an offer to join the government's fast-track photovoltaic policy, paying them to generate electricity on the roof of their home.
At first, the housewife and her husband, a truck driver, were suspicious: Were they being asked for their property rights, or was this some other kind of scam? But some neighbors had already taken the plunge, and the offer was tempting. Installing the panels took just one day's work, with no effort or expense on their part. Since then, the family has been earning 60 yuan per panel per year, for a total of 3,600 yuan (€460), a significant additional income.
Programs like these are springing up all over Jinan, at a time when China is leading the world in the installation of renewable energies. According to the San Francisco-based NGO Global Energy Monitor, China is building nearly two-thirds of the world's solar and wind power projects, eight times more than projects underway in the US. In July, China reached its target – six years ahead of schedule – of installing 1,200 gigawatts of solar and wind power by 2030, while the European Union is currently at 480 gigawatts. In practice, however, 59.6% of China's electricity still came from coal in the first half of 2024. This figure, just below the 60% threshold, illustrates the challenge of integrating photovoltaic capacity into the grid and ensuring its stable management.
China's efforts keep its factories running, producing the majority of the world's solar panels today, driven by the appetite of its entrepreneurs and boosted by public support policies. The high volume of production has pushed down prices, wiping out what's left of the industry elsewhere, while encouraging Beijing to install even more to absorb production and maintain jobs. As a result, China is faced with the challenge of storing the energy, which is intermittent as it depends on weather conditions, but it is taking advantage of this in the battery sector in which it is already dominant. Its companies are now able to offer the private sector or local authorities entire industrial cabinets of batteries.
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