China Targets Solar, Wind Power Producing Half of Electricity by 2030
By Reuters | 25 Jun, 2026

China's 2030 target is up from a 42.3% target for 2025, with a focus on wind and solar to exceed 50% of installed capacity, up from about 47% at end of 2025.

Wind turbines at a wind farm operated by Beijing Energy Group, also known as Jingneng Group, in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China, May 8, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

China is aiming for half of its electricity to come from non-fossil sources by 2030, up from a 42.3% target for 2025, according to a five-year plan for the energy sector released on Thursday.

Here are other key points from the plan:

• China is aiming for wind and solar to exceed 50% of installed capacity by 2030, up from about 47% at end-2025.

• Both the world's largest builder of renewable energy and the biggest carbon emitter, China set a binding goal to cut power-sector carbon emissions intensity by more than 10% over the five-year period. Carbon intensity measures emissions per unit of output.

• China aims to expand non-pumped hydro energy storage to 300 gigawatts by 2030, up from a previously targeted 180 GW by 2027.

• The plan calls for renewable hydrogen output of 2 million metric tons a year by 2030, versus a prior target of 100,000 to 200,000 tons a year by 2025.

• It reiterated a goal for coal consumption to peak by 2030 but gives no level.

• "Space-based power stations" are flagged as a future innovation area, potentially linked to supplying power for China's planned space-based data centres for AI over the next five years.

(Reporting by Colleen Howe. Editing by Mark Potter)