China is the world's top electricity producer from renewable energy sources. China's renewable energy capacity is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity. China installed over 430 GW of renewables in 2025, reaching a total installed renewable capacity of over 2.34 TW by the end of the year. The country aims to achieve peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060; emissions may have already peaked in 2024, six years ahead of the 2030 goal.
Although China currently has the world's largest installed capacity of hydro, solar and wind power, its energy needs are so large that fossil fuels still provide the majority of power. In 2020, as a part of the Central Committee's fourteenth five-year plan, a target of 20% total energy production from non-fossil fuel sources by 2025 was set. As of February 2026, China's clean electricity capacity reached 52%, exceeding its fossil fuel-based electricity generation for the first time. Electricity generation from renewable energy was about 35% of total electricity, while the renewable share in total energy consumption was much lower.
China sees renewables as a source of energy security and not only a means to reduce carbon emissions.Deng, Haifeng and Farah, Paolo Davide and Wang, Anna, China's Role and Contribution in the Global Governance of Climate Change: Institutional Adjustments for Carbon Tax Introduction, Collection and Management in China (24 November 2015). Journal of World Energy Law and Business, Oxford University Press, Volume 8, Issue 6, December 2015. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2695612 Unlike oil, coal and gas, the supplies of which are finite and subject to geopolitical tensions, renewable energy systems can be built and used wherever there is sufficient water, wind, and sun. China also possesses the rare earth deposits, refining capacity, and manufacturing supply chains needed to produce renewables, namely solar and wind, domestically at scale, without risk of foreign bottlenecks.
China is also a major leader of clean energy technology. As Chinese renewable manufacturing has grown, the costs of renewable energy technologies have dropped dramatically due to both innovation and economies of scale from market expansion. In 2015, China became the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power, with 43 GW of total installed capacity. From 2005 to 2014, production of solar cells in China has expanded 100-fold. By late 2025, China's solar manufacturing capacity reached 1,200 GW per year, more than the global yearly demand.
China is the world's largest investor in renewable energy. In 2024, global investment in renewable energy totalled US$2,033 billion, with China contributing US$625 billion or 31% of that figure. In 2024, more wind turbines and solar panels were installed in China than in the rest of the world combined. China also leads the renewable energy landscape in patent filings and research publications.
Renewable electricity overview Renewable electricity generation in China by source in TWh:
+Electricity production (GWh) in China by source, 2008–2025 Year Total Fossil Nuclear Renewable Total renewable % renewable Coal Oil Gas Hydro Wind Solar PV Biofuels Waste Solar thermal Geo-thermal Tide20083,481,9852,743,76723,79131,02868,394585,18714,80015214,715001447615,00517.66%20093,741,9612,940,75116,61250,81370,134615,64026,90027920,700001257663,65117.74%20104,207,9933,250,40913,23669,02773,880722,17244,62269924,7509,06421257801,44119.05%20114,715,7613,723,3157,78684,02286,350698,94570,3312,60431,50010,77061257814,28817.27%20124,994,0383,785,0226,69885,68697,394872,10795,9786,34433,70010,968912571,019,23820.41%20135,447,2314,110,8266,50490,602111,613920,291141,19715,45138,30012,3042610981,127,68620.70%20145,678,9454,115,2159,517114,505132,5381,064,337156,07829,19544,43712,9563412581,307,17023.02%20155,859,9584,108,9949,679145,346170,7891,130,270185,76645,22552,70011,0292712581,425,18024.32%20166,217,9074,241,78610,367170,488213,2871,193,374237,07175,25664,70011,41329125111,581,97925.44%20176,452,900248,1001,194,700304,600117,8001,700,00026.34%20186,994,7004,482,9001,500215,500295,0001,232,100365,800176,90093,6001,868,40026.71%20197,326,9004,553,8001,300232,500348,7001,302,100405,300224,000112,6002,044,00027.76%20207,623,6005,174,300Including biomass.366,2001,355,200466,500261,1002,082,800Excluding biomass.27.32%20218,376,8005,646,300407,5001,340,100655,600327,0002,322,70027.73%20228,848,7105,888,790417,7801,352,200762,670427,2702,542,12028.73%20239,456,4406,265,740434,7201,285,850885,870584,1502,755,88029.14%202410,086,8806,374,260450,8501,425,680997,040839,0403,261,76032.33%202510,575,2506,327,150485,2301,461,6701,127,9201,173,2403,762,83035.58%
As of year end 2025 hydroelectric power remains the largest component of renewable electricity production at 1,461 TWh. Solar power provided the next largest share with 1,173 TWh, followed by wind at 1,127 TWh. The overall share of electricity generated from renewable sources based on the figures in the above table has grown from a little over 17% in 2008 to a little over 35.5% by 2025. Solar and wind power continue to grow at a rapid pace, with solar power in particular growing 671% from a base of just 152 GWh in 2008.
By the end of 2025, the country had a total renewable energy capacity of 2,340 GW, mainly from hydroelectric, solar and wind power. By the end of 2025, China's hydropower, solar power, and wind power capacity reached 442 GW, 1,200 GW, and 640 GW respectively.
Sources
Hydropower
As of 2020, China had more than 150 dams with generating capacity of more than 300 megawatts and installed capacity of 369 gigawatts.
As of 2021, China operates four of the world's six largest dams. These include the world's biggest (Three Gorges Dam, with 22.5 gigawatts capacity) and second biggest (Baihetan Dam).
In 2024, China's total installed hydroelectric capacity reached 426 GW.
Wind power
China has the largest wind resources in the world and three-quarters of this natural resource is located at sea. Per its 13th Five-Year Plan, China aimed to have 210 GW of wind power capacity by 2020. It exceeded that goal, reaching 276 GW of onshore wind power by the end of 2020.
China encourages foreign companies, especially from the United States, to visit and invest in Chinese wind power generation. However, consumption of wind energy in China has not always kept up with the construction of wind power capacity in the country.
In 2008, China was the fourth largest producer of wind power after the United States, Germany, and Spain. At the end of 2008, wind power in China accounted for 12.2 GW of electricity generating capacity. By the end of 2008, at least fifteen Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components. Turbine sizes of 1.5 MW and 2 MW became common. Leading wind power companies were Goldwind, Dongfang, and Sinovel. China also increased the production of small-scale wind turbines to about 80,000 turbines (80 MW) in 2008. Through all these developments, the Chinese wind industry appeared unaffected by the Great Recession, according to industry observers.
By 2009 China had total installed windpower capacity up to 26 GW. China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy.
As of 2010, China has become the world's largest maker of wind turbines, surpassing Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the United States. The initial future target set by the Chinese government was 10 GW by 2010, but the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China had already reached 25.1 GW by the end of 2009.
In September 2019, Norwegian energy firm Equinor and state-owned China Power International Holding (CPIH) announced their plan to cooperate in developing offshore wind in China and Europe.
In 2020, China deployed 71.7 GW of wind energy capacity, a 60% increase compared to 2019 and more than the rest of the world combined.
In the year 2022, China is set to install more 56 GW of wind turbines, of which 50 GW are from onshore wind and 6 GW from offshore wind turbines.
As of at least 2024, China has the largest domestic market for wind turbines.
Although in some countries there are aesthetic objections to large-scale wind farms, in China they are often perceived as an aesthetic positive due to their associations with modernity and green development.
Solar power
China produces 63% of the world's solar photovoltaics (PV). It is the world's largest solar panel manufacturer as of at least 2024. It also has the world's largest domestic market for solar panels.
Following the new incentive scheme of Golden Sun announced by the government in 2009, there are numerous recent developments and plans announced by industry players that became part of the milestones for solar industry and technology development in China, such as the new thin film solar plant developed by Anwell Technologies in the Henan province using its own proprietary solar technology. The agreement was signed by LDK for a 500 MW solar project in the desert, alongside First Solar and Ordos City. The effort to drive the renewable energy use in China was further assured after the speech of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao given at the UN climate summit on 22 September 2009 in New York, pledging that China would adopt plans to use 15% of its energy from renewable sources within a decade.
China has become a world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic technology, with its six biggest solar companies having a combined value of over $15 billion. Around 820 MW of solar PV were produced in China in 2007, second only to Japan.
Following a report from China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, in 2022 China is set to install more 100 GW of solar panels.
China's solar exports in 2022 grew by 64% to US$52 billion. Chinese exports mainly consist of solar modules, with Europe being the destination for 56% of the share of exports in 2022.
As of at least 2023, solar power in China is cheaper than coal-fired power.
Although in some countries there are aesthetic objections to large-scale solar farms, in China they are often perceived as an aesthetic positive due to their associations with modernity and green development.
Biomass and biofuel
China emerged as the world's third largest producer of ethanol-based bio-fuels (after the U.S and Brazil) at the end of the 10th Five Year Plan Period in 2005 and at present ethanol accounts for 20% of total automotive fuel consumption in China. In the 11th Five Year Plan period (2006 through 2010) China planned to develop six megatons/year of fuel ethanol capacity, which is expected to grow to 15 megatons/year by 2020. Despite this level of production, experts say that there will be no threat to food security, though there will be an increasing number of farmers who will be "farming oil" if the price of crude oil continues to increase. Based on planned ethanol projects in some provinces in China, the output of corn would be insufficient to provide the raw material for plants in these provinces. In the recently published World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund expressed concern that there would be increasing competition worldwide between bio-fuels and food consumption for agricultural products and that that competition would likely continue to result in increases in the price of crops.
Work has begun on the million Kaiyou Green Energy Biomass (Rice Husks) Power Generating project located in the Suqian City Economic Development Zone in Jiangsu. The Kaiyou Green Energy Biomass Power project will generate 144 GWh/year (equivalent to 16.5 MW) and use 200 kilotonnes/year of crop waste as inputs.