China's installed solar energy capacity surpassed coal for the first time at the end of July, making photovoltaics the largest source of electricity in the country in terms of installed power. According to data cited by financial portal Cailian, cumulative photovoltaic capacity reached 1,286 gigawatts, slightly above the 1,285 GW of coal generation capacity. Of the total solar capacity, 704 GW corresponded to centralized installations and 582 GW to distributed generation.
This milestone represents a turning point in the transformation of China's electricity system, which remains dependent on coal in terms of actual electricity production but is increasingly dominated by renewable energy in new installed capacity. Between January and July, China added 85.65 GW of photovoltaic capacity, a 62% drop year-on-year due to the high comparison base created by the wave of new installations recorded in 2025. However, solar energy production continued to increase, reaching 802,400 million kilowatt-hours in the first seven months of the year, up 15.5% from the same previous period.
Solar energy already accounted for 13% of the country's total electricity consumption, while renewable sources were responsible for 41.2% of all electricity produced in the first half of the year, surpassing the 40% threshold for the first time, according to data from the National Energy Administration. China predicts that non-fossil sources will be responsible for half of national electricity production by 2030.
China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has set objectives to reach peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Recent reports from think tank Ember and Greenpeace indicated that the growth of wind and solar energy is bringing the country closer to a turning point in the electricity system, although the challenge now lies in better integrating that capacity into the grid and containing the role of coal, which continues to be fundamental to guarantee supply security.
