BRUSSELS: Amid lush greenery, fragrant flowers and the gentle murmur of grazing flocks of sheep lies an endless array of photovoltaic (PV) panels, creating a mesmerising scene of sustainable energy production at the Francisco Pizarro PV plant in southwest Spain.

The Iberdrola group, a leading Spanish multinational electric utility company, inaugurated the plant, Europe’s largest, in 2022.

With around 1.5 million solar panels imported from China, the plant’s clean energy output is substantial, catering to the needs of 334,000 households and creating over 1,500 jobs.

As exemplified by the Spanish PV plant, China’s rapid progress in the renewable energy sector has played a pivotal role in advancing the European Union’s (EU) green transition.

The European Green Deal, launched by the European Commission in 2019, targets net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

To achieve this, the EU has pledged to increase the binding renewable energy share to at least 42.5% by 2030.

However, with the current renewable energy share at approximately 23%, innovation is urgently needed.

Walburga Hemetsberger, chief executive officer of SolarPower Europe, an association for the European solar PV sector, has warned that Europe must ramp up its solar deployment to meet the necessary targets, while WindEurope, a major wind energy association, also stressed the need for immediate action.

China’s green energy equipment manufacturing industry is well-established and competitive.

Chinese solar products and wind turbines would be indispensable for the EU to achieve its 2030 emission reduction targets, said Qin Yan, a lead analyst at Refinitiv and researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In fact, many European countries have reaped the benefits of green energy collaboration with China in recent years.

Pedro Amaral Jorge, president of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, highlighted the growing cooperation between China and Portugal in the solar energy sector.

This comes as Portugal aims to install approximately eight gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2026 or 2027 and reach 22 GW by 2030.

“To achieve the objectives set for increasing installed capacity, cooperation with China must increase,” Jorge told Xinhua in an interview.

In Croatia, the Chinese-built Senj Wind Farm, inaugurated in December 2021, produces about 530 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green electricity each year and reduces Croatia’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 460,000 tonnes per year.

“These are projects where the benefit of cooperation with large countries like China, which have the knowledge and potential to realise such large projects, can be seen,” said Mladen Plese, Croatian political analyst and Asia expert, in an interview.

For Zlatko Prpic, chief engineer of the Senj Wind Farm, the project, the largest of its kind in Croatia so far, represents a “miracle” and a shining example of China-Croatia cooperation.

China’s Norinco International, a civil engineering company, has been the main contractor and builder of the farm.

As Croatia and the EU ramp up their transition to green and renewable energy, it presents a significant opportunity for Norinco International and other Chinese firms to demonstrate their cutting-edge technology and equipment in large-scale projects, Prpic said.

The United Nations has urged countries to accelerate the transition to an affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy system by investing in renewable energy resources, prioritising energy efficient practices, and adopting clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

 - Xinhua