🌅 China’s Excess Clean Energy Could Power the U.K.

SOURCE

Global Energy Monitor

WHAT TO KNOW

• China’s power grid rejected 360 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity from solar and wind in the first half of 2026, enough to power Mexico or the U.K. for a year. The new report by Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air suggests China’s curtailments—i.e., the preemptive rejection of power when the grid is at capacity—rose 49% from the same period last year, wasting just over a quarter of all the solar and wind energy the country produced from January to June.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The report found supply contracts that guarantee coal plants a share of demand are at the root of the problem. Despite government policies reducing the hours coal plants can run, coal-powered generation rose 3.4% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, reversing declines made in 2025. Another issue is China’s transmission infrastructure. The country has built its largest solar and wind installations in the deserts and grasslands of its north and west, and hasn’t built lines quickly enough to bring that electricity to the power-hungry industrial cities of the east.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• China isn’t the only country dealing with wasted clean energy due to transmission issues. Australia, Japan, and India, three of the world’s largest solar producers, each curtailed large amounts of electricity this year as the countries’ clean energy build-outs outpace the expansion of power lines meant to carry the electricity. Experts say one way to help solve curtailments is through a massive scale-up of battery storage technology, which can smooth fluctuations, make clean energy available when needed, and help secure power grids.