- China’s installed solar capacity hit 1.286 billion kW, overtaking coal to become the largest power source.
- China’s solar generation rose 15.5% year‑on‑year to 802.4 billion kWh and now supplies 13% of national electricity.
- Policy and targets aim to boost reliable renewable output so wind and solar reach ~50% of capacity by year‑end.
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) data released on Sept. 1 showed that China’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286 billion kW by the end of July 2026.
Of the total, utility-scale solar accounted for 704 million kW, while distributed solar reached 582 million kW.
During the same period, China’s installed coal-fired power capacity stood at 1.285 billion kW.
Solar power capacity surpassed coal capacity for the first time, becoming China’s largest installed power source.
The milestone breaks the long-standing position of coal as the country’s largest power source and highlights the transition of renewable energy from a supplementary source toward a leading role in the power system.
From a global perspective, China’s 1.286 billion kW of installed solar capacity ranks first among all individual countries.
This exceeds the combined solar capacity of countries including the United States, India and Germany, as well as the total installed solar capacity of the European Union.
In July alone, China added 13.73 million kW of solar capacity, up 43% YoY. However, cumulative new solar installations from January to July reached 85.65 million kW, down 62% YoY.
The sharp decline was mainly due to a high comparison base in the same period of 2025.
From January to May 2025, expectations of subsidy policy adjustments triggered a rush of installations across the solar industry, significantly boosting installation figures during that period.
In terms of electricity generation, China’s solar power output reached 802.4 billion kWh from January to July 2026, up 15.5% YoY.
This exceeds the growth rate of total social electricity consumption by about 10.8 percentage points.
Solar power accounted for 13% of China’s total electricity consumption, up 1.7 percentage points from the full-year level in 2025.
The China Electricity Council (CEC) expects total electricity consumption in 2026 to grow 5%-6% YoY.
With solar generation expanding significantly faster than overall electricity demand, clean power continues to increase its share of China’s electricity consumption structure.
The recently released “15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development” proposes that by 2030, annual renewable energy generation will reach around 6 trillion kWh, with annual wind and solar power generation exceeding 4 trillion kWh.
The plan introduces, for the first time, a target to improve the reliable replacement capability of renewable electricity.
It calls for technological and system-level optimization to gradually enhance solar power’s dependable output capacity and peak-load contribution.
The CEC previously forecast that by the end of 2026, combined installed capacity of wind and solar power would account for half of China’s total installed power capacity, while coal-fired power’s share would decline to around 31%.
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