Key Takeaways
The China Electricity Council reported that solar power capacity in China nearly equals its coal-fired generation capacity, at around 1,275 gigawatts.
Coal’s share dipped below 50% of electricity produced at 49.7% in the first six months of this year but was still about twice as much as wind and solar generated combined.
Solar needs backup power from either coal or expensive storage batteries when the sun is not shining, but coal can operate 24/7, providing power when demand requires it.
China is also investing in new transmission lines since much of its wind and solar capacity is built in remote areas of the country that require grid access.
China’s coal fleet continues to grow, accounting for almost 80% of the world’s increase last year and 86% of the total global capacity expected to be commissioned this year.
China is also investing in energy in Africa through its Belt and Road Initiative, supplying renewable energy and coal power, and continuing to expand its control over minerals through mining and processing.
The China Electricity Council reported that as of the end of June, solar power capacity in China was nearly equal to the capacity of its coal-fired generators — 1,274 gigawatts for solar and 1,275 gigawatts for coal-fired capacity. Capacity is not the same as generation; generation is a measure of capacity’s efficiency. Since solar generation drops when the sun goes down, it generally operates at a 25% capacity factor, compared to coal at 85%. Since solar has no fuel cost, operators tend to dispatch it before coal and gas units that have higher operating costs. So, China’s non-fossil energy power generation did grow—by 8.5% in the first half of this year from a year earlier, accounting for 70.7% of the country’s incremental power generation.
With that increase in non-fossil generation, China reported that coal’s share of electricity output fell below 50% in the first half of 2026 for the first time on record. Coal averaged 49.7% of China’s total electricity output in the first half of this year, while renewable energy, including hydroelectricity, accounted for 41.2%, with wind and solar combined generating almost 25% of China’s power. Electricity generation from renewable energy rose by about 9% from a year earlier, according to the data from China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). China’s five-year plan for the energy sector expects renewable energy to increase its share of electricity supply by 2031, but also notes that it plans to strengthen the role of coal as a “bottom-line guarantee.” China expects “clean energy” to account for 30% of its power generation by 2030.
Despite the growth of wind and solar power in China’s electricity mix, coal generation will continue to expand, providing a flexible backstop for energy security. Last year, China accounted for 78% of all global coal power capacity that began operating and 86% of the total global capacity under construction and expected to be commissioned this year. Of the 63 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation expected to begin commercial operations worldwide this year, 55 gigawatts are in China. China will continue to rely on coal for power generation and industry, and to maintain the reliability of its power grids by backing up intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar power. How transmission on the grid is allocated is also a factor, as much of China’s wind and solar capacity is located far from demand centers, necessitating new infrastructure. China uses cheap coal-fired electricity to make the silicon for solar panels using forced labor by Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region. The Heritage Foundation reported that 95% of solar panels worldwide contain materials produced with forced labor in China.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has detained or blocked shipments of solar products under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) when importers fail to demonstrate that their supply chains are free of forced labor. However, the UFLPA has been ineffective in stopping the sale of Chinese solar equipment produced with forced labor because China exports its solar supplies through other Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Vietnam, before those supplies arrive in the United States.
China continues to invest in other countries through its Belt and Road Initiative. China invested $36.3 billion in energy projects in Africa within the first six months of this year — almost double its energy engagement in any first-half year since 2013, except in 2025. According to the China Belt and Road Initiative Investment report, “56% of China’s energy engagement was green,” with total spending equivalent to that in 2025. Semafor reported that Ethiopia’s Smart Energy green power and ammonia project was the largest investment. China is also investing in coal in Africa. In Zambia, a Chinese company is building a 660-megawatt coal-fired power plant. China’s investment in the metals and mining sector reached a record high of $21.8 billion in the first half of 2026, higher than any full year since 2013 except 2025 – mostly in processing, not mining.
Conclusion
China announced that its solar capacity was roughly equal to its coal capacity at the end of the first six months of the year. The major difference is that solar needs backup power from either coal or expensive storage batteries when the sun is not shining, whereas coal can operate 24/7, providing power when demand requires it. Nonetheless, coal-fired generation in China accounted for 49.7% of the country’s total generation needs during the first six months of 2026—the first time it was below 50%, while wind and solar combined to generate 25% of the country’s electricity needs. China is also investing in energy in Africa through its Belt and Road Initiative, supplying renewable energy and coal power, among other support.
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