Reviewing the potential benefits of reducing curtailments on renewable power generation in China

The research utilizes a water-energy-carbon nexus perspective to analyze renewable power curtailments in China. Through complete and partial depletion experiments, the study finds that reducing curtailments for wind, solar, and hydropower would significantly lower carbon emissions and save water resources compared to fossil-fueled thermal generation, with wind power offering the most substantial environmental benefits.

• Reducing renewable energy curtailments leads to significant decreases in carbon emissions and water consumption because wind and solar power emit no carbon and require substantially less water than thermal power plants fueled by fossils.
• Among the different renewable sources, removing barriers to wind power provides the greatest environmental advantages, followed by solar power and then hydropower.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2020). Reviewing the potential benefits of reducing curtailments on renewable power generation in China. https://www.sei.org/publications/review-climate-water-china/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Reviewing the potential benefits of reducing curtailments on renewable power generation in China. 2020. https://www.sei.org/publications/review-climate-water-china/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Reviewing the potential benefits of reducing curtailments on renewable power generation in China |date=1 June 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/review-climate-water-china/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2020reviewing, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Reviewing the potential benefits of reducing curtailments on renewable power generation in China}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/review-climate-water-china/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }