Coal still dominates China’s grid despite record renewable buildout, report finds

China is building more large-scale wind and solar power than the rest of the world combined, but inadequate transmission infrastructure and a continued reliance on coal-fired power are limiting how much of that clean energy actually reaches consumers, according to a report published on Tuesday by Global Energy Monitor.reuters+1

Wind and solar make up around 20 percent of the power sent through China's ultra-high voltage direct current transmission network, a share that has barely changed since 2021, while 42 percent of that network's power comes from coal, the report found. As of June 2026, China had 664 GW of solar capacity planned or under construction, making up one-third of the global total.energy.economictimes.indiatimes+2

A Record Build Meets a Stubborn Grid

The scale of China's renewable expansion is staggering. According to Global Energy Monitor data published earlier this month, China has 510 GW of utility-scale solar and wind capacity under construction — roughly three-quarters of all such capacity being built worldwide. The country added wind and solar capacity at record levels in 2025, with total wind and solar capacity reaching 1,840 GW by year's end and accounting for 47 percent of all installed power capacity.balkangreenenergynews+4

Yet the grid has not kept pace. Solar curtailment — the amount of power generated but never delivered — rose to 9.2 percent in January and February 2026, up from 6.1 percent a year earlier, according to data from China's National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center reported by Bloomberg. Wind curtailment climbed to 8.5 percent from 6.2 percent. A Carbon Brief analysis found that despite record renewable additions, China's carbon dioxide emissions rose 2 percent in the first quarter of 2026, driven in part by the grid's inability to absorb all the new clean power.energyconnects+2

Coal as a "Bridge" — but How Long?

China's recently released 15th Five-Year Plan for energy, issued on June 25 by the National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration, targets wind and solar exceeding 50 percent of installed capacity by 2030, reaching 2,700 GW. The plan also calls for 300 GW of new-type energy storage and 160 GW of pumped hydro by the end of the decade.taiyangnews+2

But analysts say those targets may still fall short. Some 315 GW of megabase capacity will need outbound transmission by 2030, requiring 27 ultra-high voltage lines, though China plans to build only 10 under the current five-year plan. Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↘ 3.72% reported that China's latest plan confirms two seemingly contradictory positions: it will continue to lead the world in both renewable energy and coal.reuters+1

Inner Mongolia, one of China's top producers of both coal and renewables, illustrates the tension. The region churns out more than 1.2 billion tons of coal annually and had China's largest pipeline of coal plants under construction last year, even as it hosts vast solar and wind farms. As one recent Energy Connects report noted, China's policymakers see coal as essential to balancing the grid when the sun is not shining, with the mantra "first build, then dismantle" guiding a slow transition.energyconnects

The Storage Gap

China commissioned 78 GW of new coal-fired power capacity in 2025 — the highest annual total in a decade — and began construction on 94.5 GW the year before. Coal still generated roughly 58 percent of China's electricity in 2025, even as its share declined from 62 percent in 2024.greenfueljournal+2

The disconnect between capacity and generation underscores what researchers call the storage gap. Without adequate long-duration storage, coal plants remain necessary for reliability during periods when wind and solar output drops. China's five-year plan acknowledges this, targeting a combined 460 GW of storage by 2030, but the build-out has only begun.reuters+1

"China can lead the world in renewable deployment and still remain central to global coal demand," the Global Electricity Initiative noted in a recent assessment.globalelectricity