This Day, That Year: Aug 28

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Aug 28, 1981, China became a member of the International Solar Energy Society.

Since then, the country's solar sector has made great strides. An item from China Daily in August 1981 showed a solar energy heater for households.

According to the National Energy Association, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations last year reached 174 gigawatts, growing 34 percent year-on-year.

Solar energy is just a part of the country's efforts to reconstitute its overall energy mix. According to the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, installed capacity of renewable energy in China totaled 728.96 GW by the end of last year, which accounted for 38.4 percent of the total installed capacity, and increased 11.7 percent year-on-year.

The agency estimated that renewable energy in the country will continue to see rapid growth, and next year, the installed conventional hydropower connected to the grid will be 340 GW, while that for wind power and solar power will be 230 GW and 250 GW.

China will be at the forefront of the increased generation of clean energy, while power storage will benefit from the rapid advances in battery technology. By 2050, China will take pole position in wind and solar energy market share, as well as the storage battery market, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

In February last year, six provincial-level regions were approved to spearhead clean energy development by the National Energy Administration. They are Qinghai, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Gansu provinces, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and the Tibet autonomous region.

Qinghai set a record in June, when for 360 consecutive hours its 6 million residents used nothing but clean energy generated from wind, solar and hydropower stations.

Running from June 9 to midnight on June 23, it was the third clean energy trial involving the whole province. Clean energy consumption during the 15 days totaled 2.84 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to coal use of 1.29 million metric tons, and a 2.32 million-ton cut in emissions of carbon dioxide.