China’s efforts to reduce chronic air pollution could increase its ability to generate solar power by up to 13 percent by allowing more sunlight to reach the earth, according to a new study. China’s solar power potential fell by an average of up to 15 percent between 1960 and 2015 as a result of pollution, climate researchers from Switzerland, the Netherlands and China said in the report published by the Nature Energy journal. Reverting back to 1960s radiation levels could increase power generation by 12-13 percent boosting Beijing’s efforts to increase the contribution of solar to the national grid and bring down costs. China has been working to curb choking levels of pollution by cutting coal use, improving fuel standards and encouraging cleaner forms of industry and energy. Hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 fell by 42 percent in 74 major cities from 2013 to 2018. The country’s total installed solar capacity stood at 170 gigawatts at the end of 2018, about 9 percent of total generating capacity.

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