How much of China electricity comes from renewable energy
How much of China electricity comes from renewable energy reached a new high in the first half of 2026. Renewable sources supplied 41.2% of all generation, the National Energy Administration of China states, the first time a half year figure has passed 40%. In the same half year, coal fired power, electricity made by burning coal, fell to 49.7% of generation, also a first time low for a half year, according to the same regulator. That leaves 9.1% of electricity generated in China from every other source, chiefly nuclear and natural gas, a MAOWCE calculation made by subtracting the 2 reported shares from the whole, since no source states that remainder directly.
The renewable share comes from source 2. The 9.1% figure is 100% minus the 2 reported shares, a MAOWCE calculation, not a figure either source states directly, chiefly nuclear and natural gas.
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| Coal | 49.7 |
| Renewables | 41.2 |
| Every other source | 9.1 |
The figures reflect the phased progress China has made in expanding non-fossil energy as a substitute for conventional fossil fuel generation.
Xing Yiteng, Vice Director of the Development and Planning Department, National Energy Administration of China. Source 3.
Why coal power kept growing while its share fell
The falling coal share does not mean China built less coal power. Coal fired electricity generation itself grew 3.4% in the first half of 2026, reversing a decline the year before, according to a report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor, an independent research organization that reviewed the underlying data directly rather than repeating the announcement the regulator itself made. China commissioned 30 gigawatts of new coal power capacity, a unit equal to 1 billion watts of generating capacity, in the same half year, up 43% from a year earlier and the highest first half total since 2016, while retiring only 2.7 gigawatts, a ratio of just over 11 to 1, a MAOWCE calculation from those 2 sourced figures. Another 25.4 gigawatts of coal capacity started construction in the same period. The coal share of generation still fell because total electricity demand in China grew faster than coal generation did, filled mostly by new renewable power, so coal took a smaller slice of a bigger total even as the coal slice itself grew larger.
All 3 figures are for the first half of 2026 alone, from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor report.
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| Retired | 2.7 |
| Started construction | 25.4 |
| Commissioned | 30 |
The clean power China did not use
Wind and solar plants in China generated 360 terawatt hours of power that went unused in the first half of 2026, up 49% from a year earlier, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor report states. A terawatt hour equals 1 billion kilowatt hours, enough to power millions of homes for a year. The unused power, called curtailment, happens when the grid, the network of power lines that carries electricity from power plants to homes and factories, cannot or will not absorb everything wind and solar plants produce. The report states that the curtailed volume alone could have met all the growth in electricity demand in China during the same half year, and would have let coal generation fall instead of rise, once the barriers to using it are removed.
The contracts that still favor coal
Coal generators in China are still expected to sign long term contracts covering 60% to 70% of the electricity they delivered the previous year in 2026, the report states. That turns what is meant to be a risk management tool into a barrier against putting more renewable power on the grid.