China Hits Clean Energy Goal Six Years Ahead of Schedule
A record pace of installations of solar and wind power in recent years has helped China achieve its 2030 renewable energy capacity target six years ahead of schedule.
China, the world’s biggest emissions polluter, set in 2020 a goal to have at least 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind capacity by 2030.
China has already hit that target—just four years after it was set and six years early.
Government support for renewables and domestic manufacturers flooding the market with cheap components and equipment allowed the country to install record solar and wind capacity in each of the past two years.
Chinese capacity installations of solar and wind power jumped last year as the country continued to lead in global additions and beat its own record of annual installations.
Last year, China’s solar power generation capacity surged by 45.2%, while wind power generation capacity rose by 18% compared to 2023, data from the country’s National Energy Administration showed.
The jump in installed solar and wind capacity topped the overall increase of 14.6% of total installed power generation capacity in the world’s second-biggest economy.
By adding about 277 GW of solar capacity and another 80 GW of wind capacity in 2024, China beat its own record of annual renewable capacity additions.
At the end of 2024, China connected one of the world’s largest solar power projects by capacity to the grid. The Ruoqiang PV project is a giant 4-GW solar project in the southeastern part of the Taklamakan Desert, developed and operated by China Green Electricity Investment.
The solar project is part of the Chinese government’s plan to have its emissions peak by the end of the decade.
At the end of last year, China was already on track for another record-breaking year for solar capacity additions.
In 2024, China remained the single biggest market for low-carbon energy investment, BloombergNEF said in a report this week. The country attracted $818 billion of investment in clean energy solutions last year, up by 20% from 2023.
China’s total investment was greater than the combined investment of the U.S., the EU, and the UK, while investment growth in China was equivalent to two-thirds of the total global increase last year, BloombergNEF said.
As early as June 2024, Chinese wind and solar energy collectively eclipsed coal in capacity for the first time ever, according to data from the country’s National Energy Administration (NEA).
By 2026, solar capacity alone is set to top coal as China’s primary energy source, with a cumulative solar capacity of more than 1.38 terawatts (TW)—150 GW more than coal, research firm Rystad Energy said last year.
“We’re at a pivotal moment for both China and the global energy transition. 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,” said Simeng Deng, Senior Analyst at Rystad Energy.
China’s CO2 emissions are estimated to have risen by 0.8% in 2024 from a year earlier. But the emissions increase in the first quarter was partly offset by plateauing emissions since February 2024 due to the massive surge of clean energy installations and weaker-than-expected economy, according to a new analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for Carbon Brief.
China will be the biggest factor in global renewable installations and emission trends. Beijing’s new commitments under the Paris Agreement and the next five-year plan expected this year will strongly influence these, Carbon Brief said.
This year, growth in China’s clean energy capacity is set to further accelerate as large-scale wind, solar, and nuclear projects race to finish before the 14th five-year plan period comes to an end, Carbon Brief noted.
Despite the renewables boom, coal is still king in China.
The persistent growth in Chinese coal demand, including for power generation, goes to show that coal remains the baseload of China’s power system to back up the surge in renewables and will stay such for years to come as power demand jumps with the increasing electrification of homes and transport
