Of the total, 860 MW were new waste incineration power generation facilities, with total installed capacity increasing to 13 GW; 570 MW were for processing agricultural and forestry biomass, with the capacity accumulating to 11.4 GW; 80 MW were for biogas, with the overall capacity growing to 830 MW.

Total power delivered by the new installations was 603 MW less than the amount added during the first half of the year 2019, mainly due to the slowdown in construction caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the less-than-satisfactory investment dynamics as a result of unclear subsidy policies for new projects beyond 2020.

China’s biomass sector generated 61.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity during the first half of the year 2020, a year-over-year increase of 23.7 percent. Of the total, 35.6 TWh were generated from domestic waste incineration, up 40.8 percent; 24.4 TWh were for processing agricultural and forestry biomass, up 5.6 percent; 1.8 billion TWh were for biogas, up 13.8 percent. All segments demonstrated growth.

The top five provinces in terms of the total energy delivered by the facilities were Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, with the power generated at 3.04 GW, 2.73 GW, 2.09 GW, 2.06 GW, and 2.00 GW, respectively, while the top five provinces in terms of new installations were Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hebei, Guangxi, and Shanxi at 263 MW, 187 MW, 130 MW, 124 MW, and 111 MW, respectively. Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang recorded the most impressive results in terms of annual power generation volume, delivering 7.64 TWh, 7.42 TWh, 5.9 TWh, 5.28 TWh, and 5.16 TWh, respectively.

Based on the on-grid volume of electricity generated from biomass in various provinces during the first half of 2020, the government authorities with oversight of the industry are expected to grant subsidies amounting to 12.7 billion yuan (approx. US$1.84 billion), broken down by 8.87 billion yuan (approx. US$1.28 billion) for the agricultural and forestry biomass segment, 3.43 billion yuan (approx. 496 million) for the domestic waste incineration segment, and 400 million yuan (approx. US$57.8 million) for the biogas segment.