China Building Twice as Much Wind and Solar as Rest of World
China is building 180 gigawatts of large solar projects and 159 gigawatts of large wind projects, which together amount to nearly two-thirds of the capacity coming online
China is advancing a nearly 1.3 terawatt (TW) pipeline of utility-scale solar and wind capacity, leading the global effort in renewable energy buildout. This is in addition to China's already operating 1.4 TW of solar and wind capacity, nearly 26% of which (357 gigawatts (GW)) came online in 2024.
In May 2025 alone, China added 93 gigawatts of solar capacity, which translates to nearly 100 new solar panels per second, alongside 26 gigawatts of wind capacity, amounting to about 5,300 newly installed wind turbines.
1 All solar capacities are reported in MWac. China's wind capacity follows a similar rate of growth as solar, according to Global Energy Monitor's Global Wind Power Tracker, with over 590 GW in prospective phases — nearly 530 GW of onshore capacity and 63 GW of offshore capacity.
In Q1 2025, China's wind and solar capacity surpassed its thermal (coal and gas) capacity for the first time, supplying nearly 23% of the country's total electricity consumed, up from roughly 18% in Q1 of 2024, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).
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