China Daily reports that China’s installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power had reached 1.482 billion kilowatts by the end of March, exceeding that of thermal power for the first time in history.

According to the report, which quotes official data released last Friday by China’s National Energy Administration, in the first quarter of this year, electricity generated from wind and photovoltaics reached 536.4 billion kilowatt-hours. Accounting for 22.5 percent of China’s total power use, the figure represents an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2024.

China’s total installed renewable power capacity reached about 1.41 billion kilowatts at the end of 2024, accounting for over 40 percent of its total electricity capacity and surpassing coal-fired power installations.

Since 2013, the country’s wind power installed capacity has grown sixfold, while solar power installed capacity has surged more than 180 times. Annual new installations account for more than 40 percent of the global total.

An article published in the 28 January edition of Combustion Industry News reported that Chinese coal-fired power generation had increased in 2024 in response to increased industrial demand as well as to record summer temperatures. Nevertheless, Greenpeace East Asia project lead Gao Yuhe expected that in 2025, with increased renewable energy capacity, China would meet all new electricity demand using renewable sources. Read the original article here.

In a new opinion piece, David Stanway from Reuters said China had promised to reduce coal consumption over the 2026-2030 period, and “aims to bring CO2 emissions to a peak before the end of the decade.”

Read the full article here.