Renewables capacity doubles in first half

China's newly installed wind and solar power capacity nearly doubled year-on-year during the first half of this year, as the country ramps up its transition to cleaner energy sources, data from the China Electricity Council showed.

Newly added power generation capacity during the first six months reached 290 million kilowatts, with new solar installations rising 107.1 percent year-on-year to 210 million kilowatts, and new wind power installations up 98.9 percent to 50 million kilowatts, it said.

China's renewable energy sector is expected to maintain rapid growth, with average annual new installed capacity reaching 200-300 million kilowatts during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), said Zhang Lin, head of the council's planning and development department, during a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

The near doubling of China's wind and solar capacity in the first half is a clear signal of the country's accelerating commitment to its energy transition goals, said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

"These installation figures demonstrate China's ability to rapidly deploy renewable energy technologies at scale, positioning it as a global leader in clean energy investment and deployment."

According to the council, China's power generation capacity is projected to hit a record high in 2025, fueled by a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources.

New power generation capacity is expected to exceed 500 gigawatts in 2025, with new renewable energy capacity reaching approximately 400 GW, a result of China's accelerated green energy transition and increasing investment in grid construction, the CEC said.

Total installed power generation capacity is forecast to reach around 3.9 terawatts by the end of 2025, a year-on-year increase of approximately 16.5 percent. Nonfossil fuel sources are expected to account for 2.4 TW, or about 61 percent of total capacity, said Jiang Debin, deputy director of the council's statistics and data center.

The CEC also anticipates steady growth in China's electricity demand in 2025, with total consumption expected to increase by 5-6 percent. Electricity demand is projected to grow faster in the second half of the year compared to the first, it said.

China's maximum power load once again set a new historical record on July 16, surpassing 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time and reaching a peak of 1.506 billion kilowatts, according to the National Energy Administration.

This represents an increase of 55 million kilowatts compared to last year's peak load, the third time a historical record has been broken in July, it said.

According to Chen Yaning, head of the council's power supply and demand analysis department, the record reflects steady expansion in China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity.

Fueled by robust and sustained economic activity, power demand surged across the nation in the first half of this year, with industrial output, commercial operations and residential consumption all contributing to the heightened electricity needs, she said.

"Equipment manufacturing and consumer goods manufacturing related to new quality productive forces have maintained strong resilience," said Chen.

The internet and related services sector saw a 27.4 percent year-on-year increase in electricity consumption, driven by the rapid development of mobile internet, big data and cloud computing.

The charging and battery swapping services sector for electric vehicles saw a 42.4 percent increase in electricity consumption in the first half of the year, fueled by the rapid growth of the EV market.