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China’s energy transition has hit a historic milestone as its collective wind and solar power capacity exceeds coal-fired generation for the first time, according to new data.
Wind and solar energy last month collectively eclipsed coal in capacity, according to latest data from China’s National Energy Administration, analyst group Rystad Energy reported Thursday.
China hit 1,181GW of wind and solar capacity by the end of June this year, only 19GW away from the 1,200GW target it had planned to reach in 2030.
Rystad forecasts that by 2026, solar power alone will surpass coal as China’s primary energy source, with a cumulative capacity exceeding 1,380GW – 150GW more than coal.
“We’re at a pivotal moment for both China and the global energy transition,” said Simeng Deng, senior analyst at Rystad Energy.
“With strong renewable energy project pipelines in place, the country is on track to shed its reputation as the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and power consumer.”
Since 2020, annual installations of wind and solar energy in China have consistently exceeded 100GW, said Rystad – three to four times the capacity additions for coal.
Wind power additions in China hit 75GW last year, said Rystad – two and a half times the size of the UK’s entire wind fleet. There were meanwhile 216GW of solar power additions last year and the country has already hit 105GW in the first half of this year, said Rystad.
China installed a record 293GW of wind and solar capacity in 2023, according to a report by Australia-based thinktank Climate Energy Finance. The International Energy Agency has put China’s total renewables additions last year at 350GW, over half the global total.
Installation of renewables capacity in China has been aided by massive green industrial overcapacity in the country, which has pushed prices for wind turbines and solar panels down amid ‘brutal’ competition between domestic players.
“China’s coal power sector is moving in the opposite direction,” said Rystad. Last year, it added around 40GW of coal-fired generation, but Rystad said its estimates show this figure “plummeted” to 8GW in the first half of 2024.
