Thermal power plants accounted for the majority of installed power generating capacity in China. As of 2024, thermal power plants, most of which are coal-fired, had a combined capacity of ***** gigawatts. This was less than half of the total power generating capacity, which stood at roughly *** terawatts. By comparison, hydropower facilities were the largest renewable energy source by operational capacity.

China sources most of its electricity from coal. In 2023, fossil fuels made up ** percent of the total electricity in the country. Despite continuing to expand its coal power plant fleet, China has recently redirected its investment efforts towards clean energy initiatives with the aim of reducing pollution and emission levels. From fossil to the future As the largest global polluter, China has designated the development of renewable energy sources as a major objective of its economic policies. Already, the country produced the most renewable energy worldwide. However, as the second-largest economy, it was also the biggest energy consumer, attributed to its population numbers and a large manufacturing sector. According to the China Electricity Council, a national trade organization, the combined capacity of wind and solar power was going to exceed the projected coal power supply in 2024. Long-distance relationship One of the greatest obstacles to the green energy transition in the PRC is the distance between the green energy sources and its consumers. In general, the country has favorable conditions for the installation of wind and solar power, as the northwestern regions are not only abundant in wind and sun but also host China's hydroelectric dams. Nonetheless, most individuals and institutions lack awareness. However, most people and industry are in the country’s coastal provinces, many thousands of kilometers away. As a result, the country has built the world’s leading ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission system, which allows the transmission of energy over large distances. The longest transmission circuit in China exceeds 2,000 kilometers.

China generated approximately *** terawatt hours of electricity using nuclear power in 2024. Although thermal energy sources such as coal remain the largest contributor to China's energy mix, the use of non-fossil sources notably increased in the past few years. Renewable energy in China In the last two decades, China has raised the capacity and hence the generation volume of electricity from all sources in order to meet ever-growing energy demand. Most of this growth came from thermal sources, nevertheless, renewable energy consumption in China has increased more than tenfold since the early 2000s. In 2024, clean electricity sources accounted for a third of power. This may be evidenced by the significant growth rate of renewable capacity. China's role in the global renewable energy industry In 2021, China's government announced that it was striving towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Already, China has become one of the leading players in the renewable energy arena, housing multiple major manufacturers. In fact, China accounts for nearly ** percent of solar PV module production worldwide.

Key information about China Electricity Production

• Electricity Production in China reached 846,240 GWh in Dec 2024, compared with 749,510 GWh in the previous month.
• Electricity Production data of China is updated monthly averaging at 189,206 GWh from Apr 1986 to Dec 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 907,420 GWh in Aug 2024 and a record low of 35,650 GWh in Apr 1986.

China Power Market size was valued at USD 4.80 Billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 15.20 Billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 15.5% from 2024 to 2031.

China Power Market: Definition/Overview

China's power grid is a large network of energy production, delivery, and consumption from a variety of sources, including coal, hydroelectric, wind, solar, and nuclear power. It is the world's greatest electricity producer and user, with fast-increasing renewable energy potential. The country's power infrastructure promotes domestic demand, industrial growth, and technical advancement. China's manufacturing economy, transportation networks, and urban expansion rely heavily on electricity, which powers everything from heavy factories to residential areas and contemporary smart grids.

Electricity Production in China decreased to 73776 Gigawatt-hour in May from 711110 Gigawatt-hour in April of 2025. This dataset provides - China Electricity Production- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Thermal power electricity generation increased by more than four percent compared to the previous year. China's wind power generating capacity reached nearly *** gigawatts in 2024. Hydropower generation increased, due to lower than average rainfall around major rivers in the previous year.

China's Power Market is Segmented by Power Generation Sources (thermal, Hydroelectric, Nuclear, Renewable, and Other Sources) and Power Transmission and Distribution (T&D). The Report Offers Market Size and Forecasts in Installed Capacity (terawatts) for all the Above Segments.

Over the five years to 2024, industry revenue has fluctuated but performed solidly, rising at an annualized 6.4%. Strong growth of renewable energy – like wind power and solar power – has afflicted thermal power generation. In 2021, revenue from the Thermal Power Generation industry in China increased by 14.4% due to the rising thermal power output and the increasing on-grid price of coal-fired electricity. In 2024, industry revenue is estimated at $340.1 billion, up 5.8% from 2023. The industry suffered losses in 2021 and 2022, due to the sharp rise of coal prices. Profit margins have recovered to 1.5% of industry revenue in 2024.Thermal power generation accounted for 65.9% of the country's total electricity generation in 2023, down from 79.2% in 2010 and 73.7% in 2015. The drop-off in thermal power generation is due to higher levels of output from the Hydroelectric Power industry (IBISWorld industry report 4412) and the Wind Power industry (IBISWorld industry report 4419a) as well as the tighter energy-saving and emission-reduction regulations. The industry is expected to generate 6.6 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2024.Over the next five years, the Chinese Government will continue to limit the proportion of thermal power generation, as it is considered highly polluting. The 14th five-year plan for the development of renewable energy industry in China was released in 2021, and will also have an impact on the industry's development over the next five years. The Government is aiming for 33.0% of the nation's total electricity generation volume to come from renewable sources by 2025, up from 28.8% in 2020. As a result, industry revenue growth will be lower than previous years, rising at an annualized 3.8% over the next five years, to $409.2 billion in 2029.

Electricity generation in China amounted to approximately 9,418 terawatt hours in 2024. This was an increase of nearly 4.6 percent compared to the previous year. Apart from hydropower, all energy sources were more heavily utilized in 2024, with wind and solar power generation growth particularly notable.

The China thermal power plant market, currently valued at approximately $XX million (assuming a reasonable market size based on global trends and the provided CAGR), is projected to experience robust growth, exceeding a 3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2025 to 2033. This expansion is fueled by increasing energy demand driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization within China. The dominance of coal in the fuel mix, while gradually transitioning towards a greater gas and potentially nuclear component, presents both opportunities and challenges. Government initiatives promoting cleaner energy sources are influencing market dynamics, pushing for a shift away from coal-fired plants towards more sustainable alternatives. However, the country's vast existing coal-based infrastructure and the need for reliable baseload power continue to sustain the market for coal-fired thermal power plants in the near term. Major players like Datang International, China Energy Engineering Corporation, and Huaneng Group are strategically positioned to benefit from these trends, although competition is intensifying as companies focus on efficiency improvements and compliance with stricter environmental regulations. The market segmentation by fuel type reflects this shift, with coal maintaining a significant share, but gas and nuclear experiencing notable growth in the forecast period. Regional variations within China are expected, with certain provinces potentially exhibiting faster growth than others due to differing energy consumption patterns and infrastructure development. The market's sustained growth hinges on balancing the need for reliable and affordable energy with the imperative for environmental sustainability. While the transition to cleaner energy sources is inevitable, the considerable existing coal-based capacity and the time required to build and integrate new power generation facilities will ensure the thermal power plant market remains a significant sector in the Chinese energy landscape throughout the forecast period. Further investment in modernization and technological advancements, particularly in emission control technologies for coal plants, will be key to mitigating environmental concerns and promoting responsible growth within the sector. The potential for integration of renewable energy sources within existing thermal power plant infrastructure could also contribute significantly to the sector's transformation and future trajectory. Notable trends are: Coal Segment Expected to Dominate the Market.

Under the background of global energy transforming from traditional energy to renewable energy, the Government in China has been issuing industry assistance policies to promote fast development of solar power generation. The Solar Power Generation industry in China has grown significantly over the past five years. Industry revenue is expected to increase at an annualized 16.7% over the five years through 2025, to $42.2 billion. This trend includes anticipated revenue growth of 16.8% in 2025. The installed capacity of solar power generation has been increasing rapidly, with share of solar power installed capacity accounting for total power generation installed capacity growing from 9.2% in 2018 to an estimated 29.4% in 2025. In 2025, China's cumulative solar power output is expected to increase to 995.1 billion kilowatt hours, an increase of 17.8% from 2024. The industry profit is anticipated to reach 33.4% in 2025.Rising household demand for electricity in China has led to several power supply shortages over the past few years, stimulating demand for solar power generation. Additionally, a reliance on imported oil and gas resources for power and increasing environmental consciousness have led to a strong government focus on developing renewable energy sources, particularly solar power.In 2025, China's solar power industry will face both opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, under the guidance of the dual carbon goal, the development of China's solar energy industry will receive stable policy support and drive the overall improvement and upgrading of the industrial chain. On the other hand, the large-scale development of new energy needs the support of new power system, and the policy system and terminal application mode need to be innovated.Due to technological advances and the industry expanding in scale, solar power is becoming an essential renewable energy source, along with hydroelectric and wind power. This trend is anticipated to boost industry demand over the next five years. Industry revenue is forecast to grow at an annualized 11.0% over the five years through 2030, to $70.9 billion.

China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Grid: Capital Construction data was reported at 95,600.000 RMB mn in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 43,600.000 RMB mn for Feb 2025. China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Grid: Capital Construction data is updated monthly, averaging 204,450.000 RMB mn from Mar 2008 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 164 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 608,300.000 RMB mn in Dec 2024 and a record low of 13,800.000 RMB mn in Feb 2020. China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Grid: Capital Construction data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by China Electricity Council. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Energy Sector – Table. CN.RBF: Electricity Construction Investment: Monthly .

This dataset contains China Capacity of Power Generation by Power Source and Region 2001-2017 Power Knowledge Thinker Capacity, Export API data for more datasets to advance energy economics research

China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Solar Photovoltaic data was reported at 320,900.000 RMB mn in Nov 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 269,400.000 RMB mn for Oct 2023. China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Solar Photovoltaic data is updated monthly, averaging 46,100.000 RMB mn from Dec 2015 (Median) to Nov 2023, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 320,900.000 RMB mn in Nov 2023 and a record low of 3,700.000 RMB mn in Feb 2021. China Electricity Construction Investment: Year to Date: Power Source: Solar Photovoltaic data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by China Electricity Council. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Energy Sector – Table. CN.RBF: Electricity Construction Investment: Monthly .

As of 2024, approximately 3,349 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity had been installed in China. This was up from some 3,000 gigawatts the previous year and follows a trend of steady growth over the past decade. Thermal power, the majority of which is coal-based, is the energy source with the greatest power generation capacity in the country. China's surging energy demand China is known to be the most populated country in the world. The country's population growth coupled with rapid economic development has created a huge burden on energy requirements in the country. In less than two decades, energy consumption of China tripled, from less than 43 million exajoules to over 170 exajoules in 2023. Renewable capacity additions In order to cope with the growing energy demand, China has been increasing its capacity and overall generation volume of electricity from a diverse range of energy sources. Although most of this growth came from thermal power, which has been the main source of energy in China for a long time, renewables are expected to make up around 50 percent of total installed capacity by the end of 2022. Deployment of wind and solar farms has been particularly strong in the last few years and comes after President Xi announced in 2021 that China would aim to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Hong Kong HK: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data was reported at 65.440 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 76.176 % for 2014. Hong Kong HK: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 68.838 % from Dec 1971 (Median) to 2015, with 45 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 98.235 % in 1988 and a record low of 0.000 % in 1981. Hong Kong HK: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong SAR – Table HK.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Coal refers to all coal and brown coal, both primary (including hard coal and lignite-brown coal) and derived fuels (including patent fuel, coke oven coke, gas coke, coke oven gas, and blast furnace gas). Peat is also included in this category.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Weighted average; Electricity production shares may not sum to 100 percent because other sources of generated electricity (such as geothermal, solar, and wind) are not shown. Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

The Alternative Energy industry in China is engaged in power generation via wind, geothermal, solar, tidal and biomass energy, and other new energy sources. Industry revenue is expected to grow steadily at an annualized 16.8% over the five years through 2024, to reach $126.4 billion. This includes expected growth of 11.2% in the current year. The primary industry drivers are increasing domestic demand, increasing environmental consciousness and heavy government assistance.Industry profitability growth benefits from upstream equipment manufacturing technology improvement and growing electricity consumption. Profit is expected to make up 31.2% of total industry revenue in 2024, up from 29.5% in 2019.The Chinese government has made the development of new energy generation methods a priority, in response to climate change and in pursuit of energy savings and emissions reduction. The Kyoto Protocol also stimulates new energy development in China through clean development mechanisms (CDMs). Since its implementation in February 2005, more economically developed countries have been investing in new energy projects in developing countries in exchange for certified emission reductions (CERs). As a major developing country, China has received significant investment for new energy projects, which has benefited the industry.Over the next five years, industry revenue is forecast to increase at an average annualized rate of 8.0%, to total $185.7 billion in 2029. The number and scope of wind, solar, biomass and biogas energy generation projects are all projected to increase over the period. In addition, more economically developed countries will likely increasingly invest in new energy projects in China to purchase CERs, which is expected to boost industry performance.

China: Electricity production from renewable sources, million kWh: The latest value from 2015 is 283851 million kWh, an increase from 229839.99 million kWh in 2014. In comparison, the world average is 11878.63 million kWh, based on data from 138 countries. Historically, the average for China from 1971 to 2015 is 25662.64 million kWh. The minimum value, 0 million kWh, was reached in 1971 while the maximum of 283851 million kWh was recorded in 2015.

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The clean energy technologies market share in China is expected to increase by 398.03 gigawatts from 2021 to 2026, at a CAGR of 8.86%.

This clean energy technologies market in China research report provides valuable insights on the post COVID-19 impact on the market, which will help companies evaluate their business approaches. Furthermore, this report extensively covers clean energy technologies market in China segmentation by technology (clean coal, hydro power, wind power, solar power, and others) and end-user (industries, buildings, and others). The clean energy technologies market in China report also offers information on several market vendors, including Envision Energy USA Ltd., General Electric Co., JA Solar Technology Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Shanghai Electric Group Co. Ltd., Shanghai Taisheng Wind Power Equipment Co. Ltd., Siemens AG, Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd., and Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology Co. Ltd. among others.

What will the Clean Energy Technologies Market Size in China be During the Forecast Period?

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Clean Energy Technologies Market in China: Key Drivers, Trends, and Challenges

The favorable government regulations is notably driving the clean energy technologies market growth in China, although factors such as competition from other sources of energy may impede the market growth. Our research analysts have studied the historical data and deduced the key market drivers and the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the clean energy technologies industry in China. The holistic analysis of the drivers will help in deducing end goals and refining marketing strategies to gain a competitive edge.

Key Clean Energy Technologies Market Driver in China

The favorable government regulations is one of the key drivers supporting the clean energy technologies market growth in China. For instance, on January 23, 2018, China’s 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) on geothermal energy was released by the NEA, effective as of January 1, 2016. According to the plan, the government will increase the installed capacity of geothermal power generation and also raise the total geothermal heating (cooling) area to 1.6 billion square meters by 2020. Furthermore, carbon emission per unit of gross domestic product is expected to decrease by 60%-65% when compared with 2005 to meet the targets mentioned above. Moreover, by 2050, the country aims to achieve stability in primary energy consumption, more than half of which will be contributed by non-fossil energy. Hence, the adoption of clean energy technologies is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period, boosting the growth of the clean energy technologies market in China

Key Clean Energy Technologies Market Trend in China

The increasing popularity of hybrid power projects is one of the key trends contributing to the clean energy technologies market growth in China. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the development of the first solar-coal hybrid power plant in the Inner Mongolia region of China will have a potential net solar power output of 10 MW. This approach might improve the performance of coal-fired power plants. Moreover, appropriate FITs are expected to be provided by the government, considering different financial scenarios, collector area size, solar field cost, and other conditions. Hence, the development of such hybrid power projects is expected to further improve plant efficiencies and reduce the cost of power generation, thus boosting the growth of the clean energy technologies market in China during the forecast period.

Key Clean Energy Technologies Market Challenge in China

Competition from other sources of energy is one of the factors hindering the clean energy technologies market growth in China. The share of natural gas in the primary energy mix in China is expected to grow from under 6% in 2016 to over 12% by 2040. Also, the installed capacity of power generation from oil accounted for 1% of the total installed capacity in 2020. However, drilling and extraction of natural gas from wells and its transportation through pipelines result in the leakage of methane, which is the primary component of natural gas. The heat-trapping capacity of methane is much higher than CO2 for a 20-year period. Also, the fugitive methane emissions can range up to one-tenth of the total life cycle emissions. Hence, coal power generation from conventional non-clean technologies and natural gas accounts for a significant portion of China’s energy mix, thus restricting the growth of the clean energy technologies market in the country

This clean energy technologies market in China analysis report also provides detailed information on other upcoming trends and challenges