U.S. lags as China powers forward with coal, solar

By EPN Staff

China installed twice as much utility-scale solar in 2024 as the United States had in total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The 227 gigawatts (GW) installed there put China over 880 GW in total capacity, according to the EIA. The United States had about 121 GW of utility-scale solar capacity at the end of 2024, the EIA said.

Of  course, China is also the world’s largest user of coal, consuming more than the rest of the world put together, according to the International Energy Agency.

That will continue: 76% of the coal-fired plants under construction last year were in China, Reuters reported in September, and as recently as April the country’s leadership promised to keep building coal-fired plants through 2027.

Why it matters

China’s construction pace is staggering. In addition to last year’s solar installations, another 720 GW of capacity is in development, according to the EIA.

About 250 GW of that capacity is under construction, the administration says.

Among the projects: China’s Great Solar Wall, a 100 GW project covering an area more than 250 miles long and three miles wide, which is scheduled to be complete by 2030.

The country is also an important exporter of solar panels, making more of them, by far, than any other country. But the manufacturing process there is powered primarily by fossil fuels, and questionable regulations raise environmental concerns.

The bigger picture

China still generates more than half its electricity from coal.

Coal remains “the bedrock of China's energy system and is likely to remain that way for at least another decade,” Reuters reported in September, but the share generated from renewable sources will likely continue to grow.

“The rapid rollout of renewables all but guarantees that much of the increase in demand for electricity in coming years will be met by wind and solar,” the news service reported.

The country’s wind capacity is growing quickly, too, accounting for more than half of global additions last year, according to BloombergNEF, and that was a falloff from the year before.