In the first quarter of 2025, China witnessed a significant milestone in its renewable energy sector as the combined newly – installed capacity of wind and solar power reached 74.33 million kilowatts. This brought the cumulative installed capacity of wind and solar power to 1.482 billion kilowatts, with wind power at 536 million kilowatts and solar power at 946 million kilowatts, surpassing the installed thermal power capacity of 1.451 billion kilowatts for the first time.
Looking ahead, as the new installations of wind and solar power continue to grow rapidly, it is expected that their combined installed capacity will consistently outpace that of thermal power, becoming a new norm in China’s energy landscape.
During the same quarter, the total electricity generation from wind and solar power amounted to 536.4 billion kW/h, accounting for 22.5% of the country’s total electricity consumption. This marked a 4.3% increase compared to the same period last year. As a result, the share of non – fossil fuel electricity generation rose to 39.8%, a YoY rise of 4.8%.
The rapid growth of wind and solar power, coupled with the relatively low YoY increase in total electricity consumption (2.5%) in the first quarter, led to a substantial surge in electricity generation from these renewable sources. The combined wind – solar power output increased by 111 billion kW/h compared to the previous year, significantly outstripping the 58.2 billion kW/h rise in total electricity consumption.
