China's solar power development gains momentum

BEIJING - China's solar power generation has picked up amid the government's efforts to expand clean energy to curb pollution.

Solar power generation totaled 106.9 billion kilowatt hours in the first 11 months of 2017, up 72 percent from one year earlier, according to data released by the National Energy Administration Tuesday.

This was equivalent to 33 million tons of standard coal, and helped cut carbon dioxide emissions by 93 million tons, the administration said.

By the end of November, the country's installed solar power generation capacity surged 67 percent year-on-year to 125.79 gigawatts, and accounted for 7.5 percent of the total, up from 4.8 percent one year earlier.

China has been promoting green resources such as wind and solar in recent years to cope with pollution and to boost the quality of its growth.

Pollution control will be kept as a priority, as the government has made it one of the "three tough battles" for the next three years, together with major risk prevention and poverty reduction.

The country aims to cap its coal-fired power capacity at 1,000 gigawatts in 2020, and non-fossil fuel will account for half of the country's total power generation by 2030.