After China announced their official 2020 report on their figures in solar and wind system installations, plenty of analysts cannot believe what they have witnessed. According to China’s National Energy Administration, or NEA, the additional capacity for renewable energy systems is in a whopping total of 120 Gigawatts, which is an unrealistic number.

Given the circumstance in 2020 where China has been the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, achieving numbers beyond what all expected is simply impossible to happen. The official predictions by International Energy Agency and other entities won’t even exceed 50 Gigawatts on either renewable energy source.

Experts are surprised with the numbers on solar energy but it is still in the realm of possibility. However, for the wind energy, it is just absurd to think about. It seems farfetched that China had installed wind systems that are more capable than the rest of the world during one of the worst economic years in mankind’s recorded history.

According to NEA, the new installations of wind energy systems are at around 72 Gigawatts. In December alone, the wind capacity added is 47 Gigawatts, which is higher than the combined total additions of 2018 and 2019. Whatever amount of truth is being injected into those reports, the observers and analysts find the claim as impossible.

Based on China’s historical records, such reported growth doesn’t match with the reports of the previous years. Claiming a 47-Gigawatt addition in December alone must be restrictive to the supply chain. Also, the appearance of the new wind farms seems to be not promising at all.

Whenever December hits, a great part of China experiences frozen soil. There are a lot of doubts on how the construction of infrastructures to achieve the projected power supply can take place. Aside from that, the various restrictions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic can hamper logistics.  It’s as if the NEA is just overestimating the figures.

It’s hard to believe that government officials would go to certain measures just to make up numbers but there seems to be an explanation. According to experts, the most acceptable explanation is due to the changes in accounting techniques. There are maybe systems already installed in the past that are yet to be part of the grid.

Another addition to the explanation is that NEA might have included in the figures the projects that are partially completed as of 2020. This sort of issue can disappoint a number of wind system developers for such practices can be viewed as fraudulent.

So far, the NEA is yet to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the data presented. This might produce another set of figures and it will be a series of discussions of which is which. Analyst firms can make conclusions if the figures are totally analyzed and scrutinized.

This coming March 2021, an updated analysis will be expected. Experts are convinced that this scenario is not yet the last time it will happen. Despite the setback, China will stay committed to its clean energy goals.