China Surpasses 2,000 GW of Wind and Solar Capacity – Coal Share Falls Below 50 Percent

Beijing – China’s installed wind and solar capacity exceeded 2,000 GW for the first time by the end of September 2026. While renewables are contributing a growing share of the country’s power supply, the share of coal-fired generation is declining. This is shown by current data from China’s energy authority NEA.

The expansion of renewable energy is increasingly changing the structure of China’s power supply. Renewables now account for more than 40 percent of electricity generation and for most of the additional generation volume. At the same time, storage and power grids are being expanded to better integrate rising volumes of wind and solar power.

Wind Capacity Grows by More Than 20 Percent – Solar Additions Well Below Prior Year

According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), China’s total installed power plant capacity reached around 4,130 GW at the end of September, 11.2 percent more than a year earlier. Of this, 1,310 GW was solar PV and 700 GW was wind energy. Solar capacity rose by around 17 percent from the end of September 2025, while wind capacity grew by just over 20 percent. Together, the two technologies account for just under 49 percent of total power plant capacity.

From January to September, 110.3 GW of solar PV capacity was connected to the grid, compared with 240.3 GW in the same period of the previous year, a decline of 54 percent. Wind additions were broadly stable at 60.7 GW, compared with 61.1 GW a year earlier. Of this, 58.2 GW was onshore and 2.5 GW was offshore.

The solar comparison is shaped by the exceptionally strong prior year. Since June 2025, changed rules on power marketing and price hedging have applied to new wind and solar installations in China. The cut-off date created incentives for commissioning brought forward. The statistics do not show what share of the 2026 decline is attributable to pull-forward effects in the previous year.

A comparison with Germany illustrates the scale of China’s expansion. At the end of September 2026, China had 700 GW of installed wind capacity, more than eight times as much as Germany. According to an IWR analysis of the Market Master Data Register of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), Germany’s wind capacity, including offshore, stood at around 82.9 GW. The gap is even wider for solar PV: China reached 1,310 GW, while Germany had around 130.9 GW. In arithmetic terms, China’s solar capacity is thus ten times Germany’s, although the figures are based on different capacity definitions.

Renewables Generate 3,130 TWh – Coal-Fired Generation Loses Share

According to the NEA, electricity generation from renewables in China rose by around 8 percent to 3,130 TWh in the first nine months. Their share of total generation reached 41.8 percent. Renewables accounted for 87.5 percent of the additional electricity generation volume compared with the same period of the previous year.

Wind and solar plants together produced around 1,920 TWh, about 11 percent more than a year earlier. These two technologies thus accounted for just over 61 percent of total renewable electricity generation. Solar PV contributed 1,064.2 TWh, ahead of hydropower at 1,033.9 TWh. Wind energy accounted for 855.4 TWh and biomass for around 173 TWh.

While renewables are expanding their contribution to China’s power supply, coal is losing importance in the electricity mix. According to the NEA, the share of coal-fired generation fell below 50 percent for the first time in the first half of 2026 and declined further to 49.1 percent by the end of September.

China Expands Storage Power Capacity to 167 GW – Curtailment Rates Rise

As the share of wind and solar power rises, grid integration challenges are growing. According to the NEA, the utilisation rate in the first nine months of 2026 was 92.1 percent for wind energy and 93.1 percent for solar PV. In arithmetic terms, this corresponds to curtailment shares of 7.9 and 6.9 percent of potential output, respectively. Compared with the previous year, utilisation rates fell by 1.9 and 1.6 percentage points, respectively.

However, a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) covering the first half of 2026 found that actual curtailment losses are higher than reported in official statistics. The study also takes into account electricity volumes that are not fully covered by Chinese reporting.

China is also pushing ahead with storage expansion to absorb surplus wind and solar power and feed it back into the grid when needed. At the end of September, new energy storage with a power capacity of 167 GW and a storage capacity of 435 GWh was installed. Installed storage power capacity rose by 63 percent compared with September 2025.

Source: IWR Online, 30 Oct 2026