Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 25 April 2025, China's National Energy Administration reported that the country's installed wind and solar capacity had passed its thermal power capacity, which is mostly coal, for the first time. By the end of March 2025 China had 1,482 gigawatts of wind and solar connected to its grid, and the gap kept widening through the year.
Key facts
China added more than 430 GW of wind and solar in 2025, a record and 22% more than in 2024.
By the end of 2025, wind and solar totaled 1,840 GW, or 47.3% of all installed power capacity in China.
Wind and solar produced 22% of China's electricity in 2025.
In the first quarter of 2025 alone, wind and solar generated 536.4 billion kWh, 22.5% of China's power use.
Why it matters
China is the world's largest electricity user and largest emitter, so the shape of its grid matters for the whole planet. Clean capacity now outweighs the coal-dominated fleet that has powered its growth for decades, and wind and solar are covering almost all of its new demand.
Worth noting
Capacity is not the same as output: because panels and turbines only produce part of the time, wind and solar still supplied just 22% of China's electricity in 2025. China also connected a record 95 GW of new coal capacity in 2025, even though coal power generation fell that year.