Chinese province runs only on renewable energy for seven days

An entire region of China, specifically the province of Qinghai, ran on renewable energy for seven days providing much-needed energy to over 5.6 million people.

This avoided the mining and burning of over 535,000 tons of coal. As of May 2017, Qinghai’s power grid had a total installed capacity of 23.4 million kilowatts, with around 82% of that capacity made up of solar, wind, and hydro sources.

Hydropower contributed approximately 72% of the electricity generated during the seven days.

During this period, 1.1 billion kilowatts hours of electricity was generated.

“Being the first trial of this kind in the country and a major step in the transformation of energy supply, it will be of great importance in promoting the use of clean energy in China in a sustainable and effective way,” Quan Shenming, the general manager of Qinghai Electric Power Corporation, a subsidiary of State Grid Corporation, said in a statement to the press.

By 2020, the province plans to expand its clean energy capacity to 35 million kilowatts, which could supply 110 billion kWh of renewable energy annually.

The Chinese National Energy Administration has promised that China will invest $366 billion in renewable energy by 2020.

The long-term goal of the Chinese government is to ensure 20 percent of the country’s electricity comes from clean energy sources by 2030.

It is estimated that over 13 million jobs will be created in the process, helping the local economy and fighting climate change.