China Has Two-Thirds of the World’s Wind and Solar Under Construction
Published · Updated · 3 min read
China is building 339 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity right now. That is roughly two-thirds of all renewable energy projects under construction anywhere in the world.
To put that number in perspective, it is enough to power an entire country the size of South Korea.
A Gap That Keeps Growing
Of that total, 180 gigawatts is solar and 159 gigawatts is wind, both in active construction phases. The pipeline does not stop there. These projects represent only one-third of China’s full renewable energy queue, which also includes projects awaiting authorization or in early planning stages.
The global average for renewable projects that reach actual construction stands at just 7 percent. China is moving projects from drawing board to build site at a pace no other country has matched.
In 2024, the country added 277.2 gigawatts of new solar capacity alone, accounting for 65 percent of all new solar capacity added globally that year. Wind additions reached 79.3 gigawatts in the same period.
Already Ahead of Its Own Schedule
China had set a target of 1,200 gigawatts of combined renewable capacity by 2030. It hit that target six years early.
By the end of 2025, combined wind and solar capacity had surpassed 1.8 terawatts, representing nearly half of the country’s total installed power capacity. Total installed power generation capacity reached 3.89 terawatts, a 16.1 percent year-on-year increase.
In the first half of 2025 alone, China installed more solar capacity than the rest of the world combined.
Clean Energy Is Now an Economic Pillar
The expansion is not only an energy story. In 2025, China’s clean energy sectors contributed 15.4 trillion yuan, roughly $2.1 trillion, to national GDP. That figure equals about 11.4 percent of the country’s total economic output.
Without clean energy growth, China’s reported 5.0 percent GDP expansion in 2025 would have come in at only 3.5 percent, missing the government’s official target.
Annual investment in clean energy reached 7.2 trillion yuan, approximately $1 trillion, which is about four times the amount spent on fossil fuel extraction and coal power during the same year.
The sector also employed 7.3 million people in 2024, representing 44 percent of all renewable energy jobs worldwide.
Emissions Are Starting to Fall
For the first time, the scale of clean power growth has begun pulling China’s overall carbon emissions downward. Emissions fell 1 percent over the prior 12 months and dropped 1.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.
That decline happened while energy demand and economic activity continued to rise, meaning clean energy growth outpaced demand growth on its own. In 2024, solar and wind met 84 percent of China’s electricity demand growth. By the first half of 2025, clean generation growth had exceeded demand growth entirely.
Manufacturing Gives China Global Leverage
China produces approximately 80 percent of the world’s solar photovoltaic modules. Its manufacturing capacity for solar panels has reached an estimated 1,200 gigawatts per year, nearly double global installation rates.
That scale has driven costs sharply lower. Solar module prices fell 21 percent globally during 2024. Battery storage costs dropped by roughly one-third during the same period, falling to $104 per megawatt-hour.
The International Energy Agency projects China will account for 60 percent of all global renewable capacity expansion through 2030.
What Comes Next
At the United Nations Climate Summit in September 2025, President Xi Jinping announced new targets for 2035, including 3,600 gigawatts of installed renewable capacity and a renewable electricity share exceeding 30 percent.
China’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan for 2026 to 2030 proposes doubling non-fossil energy within ten years, a target analysts say could exceed existing commitments if fully implemented.
Global renewable capacity grew 15.1 percent in 2024, just below the 16.6 percent annual rate needed to triple global capacity by 2030. Based on current construction figures, China is the primary force keeping that global pace within reach.
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