China's solar and wind power generation capacities have seen rapid growth in 2024, according to the latest official statistics, a result of the country's accelerated push for new energy development and green transition.
Solar power generation saw the most significant growth. The data showed that China's installed solar power capacity reached about 890 million kilowatts by the end of 2024, up 45.2 percent year-on-year, accounting for 27 percent of the total installed power generation capacity in the country.
Data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) on Tuesday revealed that as of the end of December, China's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.35 billion kilowatts, rising by 14.6 percent year-on-year.
Wind power development also displayed substantial growth, with installed capacity reaching 520 million kilowatts in 2024, increasing by 18.0 percent year-on-year, making it the second fastest-growing energy. Nuclear power followed, with installed capacity hitting 61 million kilowatts, up 6.9 percent year-on-year.
The rapid expansion of green production in China mirrors the growing societal demand for renewable energy, analysts said, which will continue to propel the country's shift towards green and low-carbon development.
Last year, the Chinese government rolled out an action plan to accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, emphasizing the importance of the transition for achieving high-quality growth, with a focus on building a new power system and vigorously promoting non-fossil-fuel energy.
The plan calls for speeding up the development of green energy hubs, including wind turbines and solar panels in the northwest of the country, hydropower in the southwest, offshore wind, and coastal nuclear energy, with the goal of raising the share of non-fossil energy consumption to around 25 percent by 2030.
Notably, the western regions have achieved significant advancements in new energy capacity. The installed capacity of new energy in the Northwest Power Grid reached 305 million kilowatts last year, representing 56 percent of the grid's total installed capacity, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
In recent years, China's new energy sector has expanded rapidly due to strong policy support, with the annual growth rate hovering in the double digits. Official data shows that since 2013, wind power capacity has increased sixfold, while solar power capacity has surged by 180 times. China's annual new energy installations account for more than 40 percent of the global total, according to Xinhua.
To support the construction of the new energy system, the National Development and Reform Commission introduced an action plan last year, outlining nine key initiatives, which include ensuring the stability of the power network and tackling challenges related to the large-scale and high-proportion integration of new energy into the state grid.
The data released on Tuesday indicated that, in 2024, China's major power generation companies invested 1.1687 trillion yuan ($161 billion) in power generation projects, up 12.1 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, grid engineering investments reached 608.3 billion yuan, a 15.3-percent rise from one year earlier.
（Picture: Veer）
