China
China is reshaping the global energy transition at scale.
China is simultaneously the world's largest energy market and its largest clean-energy manufacturing base. Its transition is being driven by rapid growth in solar and wind, large-scale grid investment, energy storage, electric vehicles, batteries and clean-energy technologies — while coal remains central to energy security.
China's energy transition is moving from a capacity-building phase into a system-integration phase.
By the end of 2025, renewable energy accounted for around 60% of China's total installed power capacity, while wind and solar alone reached 1.84 TW. Renewable generation reached approximately 4 trillion kWh, accounting for about 38% of total electricity generation.
But China's transition is not a simple shift away from fossil fuels. Coal remains important for reliability and energy security, while the country simultaneously builds enormous amounts of renewable generation, storage, transmission and flexible power capacity.
The next phase is therefore about connecting, storing and balancing China's rapidly expanding clean-energy fleet.
Policy & Targets
China's core long-term commitment remains:
2030
• Peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030
• Non-fossil energy to account for around 25% of primary energy consumption
• Wind + solar capacity target now raised to at least 2.8 TW by 2030 under the latest 15th Five-Year Plan carbon-peaking action plan.
2035
China's new NDC targets a 7–10% reduction in economy-wide net greenhouse-gas emissions from peak levels by 2035, with the country also aiming to establish a power system capable of accommodating a high share of new energy.
2060
Carbon neutrality.
Power Market
China has the world's largest power system, with total installed generation capacity reaching approximately 3.89 TW at the end of 2025.
The structure of the market is changing rapidly.
Wind and solar capacity has already surpassed thermal power capacity, but thermal generation remains critical to meeting demand and maintaining system reliability.
In 2025:
Total electricity generation: 10,575 TWh
Thermal generation: 6,327 TWh
Hydropower: 1,462 TWh
Nuclear: 485 TWh
Wind: 1,128 TWh
The key market question is increasingly how quickly clean electricity can displace incremental fossil generation while maintaining reliability.
Grid & Storage
Grid flexibility is becoming one of China's biggest energy-transition priorities.
China ended 2025 with 136 GW / 351 GWh of new-type energy storage, up 84% year-on-year. Around 51% of the installed new-type storage capacity was in standalone storage projects.
The government has also launched a 2025–2027 action plan targeting more than 100 GW of additional new-type storage, with total capacity expected to exceed 180 GW by 2027.
At the same time, China is expanding ultra-high-voltage transmission and power-market reforms to move renewable electricity from resource-rich regions to major demand centres.
The next challenge is no longer simply building renewables. It is integrating them efficiently into the grid.
Industry & New Energy
China's energy transition is closely tied to its industrial strategy.
The country has developed major global manufacturing capabilities across:
Solar → Batteries → EVs → Wind → Power equipment → Energy storage
In 2025, China produced approximately 16.63 million new-energy vehicles, with sales reaching 16.49 million, almost 48% of all new vehicle sales.
China also accounted for over 80% of global battery-cell production in 2025, according to the IEA, while Chinese producers accounted for almost 75% of global electric-car battery deployment.
This makes China more than an energy-transition market.
It is also one of the world's most important clean-energy supply-chain hubs.
What We're Watching
01 — Renewable integration
Can China's grid absorb another wave of solar and wind growth?
02 — Energy storage markets
How quickly will standalone storage become commercially viable as electricity-market reforms deepen?
03 — Coal's changing role
Will coal increasingly move from baseload generation toward flexibility and system-balancing?
04 — Global clean-tech competition
Chinese solar, batteries, EVs and power equipment are increasingly shaping markets across Asia and beyond.
05 — Industrial decarbonisation
Steel, cement, chemicals and other heavy industries remain critical to China's carbon pathway.
Energy Insider View
China's transition is no longer simply about adding renewable capacity. It is becoming a test of whether the world's largest power system can integrate clean electricity at unprecedented scale.
China has already demonstrated that it can build solar, wind, batteries and EVs faster than almost anywhere else.
The next question is harder:
Can the grid, electricity markets and industrial economy evolve quickly enough to turn that capacity into sustained emissions reductions?
For Asia, the answer matters far beyond China's borders. China's technology costs, equipment exports, battery supply chains and EV expansion are increasingly influencing the pace and economics of the region's own energy transition.
Sources
National Energy Administration (NEA) — renewable-energy capacity and generation data.
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) — renewable-energy planning, grid and renewable-integration policy.
China's 2035 NDC / Ministry of Foreign Affairs — 2035 climate and clean-energy targets.
State Council / Government of China — carbon-peaking and energy-system policy.