China's combined installed wind and solar power generation capacity reached a new high of 2 billion kilowatts by the end of September, the National Energy Administration said on Monday, as investment in the two sectors continued to drive the country's renewable energy buildout.
The total reached 2.01 billion kilowatts. The solar capacity stood at 1.31 billion kilowatts, up 16.5 percent from a year earlier, while the wind capacity rose 20.4 percent to 700 million kilowatts.
Yang Kun, executive vice chairman of the China Electricity Council, described the milestone as a sign of changes across both the power sector and its supply chain.
"Crossing the 2 billion kilowatt mark for wind and solar capacity further cements renewable energy's central status in China's power capacity mix. It shows steady progress toward the construction of a new power system with renewable energy playing the leading role, which powerfully supports coordinated development of the upstream and downstream industries of new energy and new materials research and development, equipment manufacturing, smart operations and maintenance, etc," Yang said.
The expansion spans large wind and solar projects, smaller distributed installations, and onshore and offshore wind farms. Spending on wind and solar projects accounted for about a third of China's energy sector investment in the first nine months of 2026, according to the administration.
China's wind and solar power capacity reaches new high of 2 billion kilowatts
