On 23 July 2026, China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued a joint 2026-2030 blueprint that sets a renewable consumption target of about 1.8 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent.
The plan defines concrete, enforceable medium- and long-term benchmarks with 2030 as the key milestone, featuring four binding quantitative targets:
First, total renewable energy consumption will reach 1.8 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent, fully offsetting the growth in traditional fossil fuel consumption.
The second target is on installed capacity and power generation. By 2030, total installed renewable capacity will reach approximately 3.5 billion kilowatts, generating 6 trillion kilowatt-hours annually. Wind and solar combined will exceed 2.8 billion kilowatts, accounting for over 50% of total national power capacity, with annual output of 4 trillion kilowatt-hours and a 30% share of total power generation—officially making wind and solar the country’s primary power source.
The third one is about non-power renewable utilisation. Renewable energy used for heating, hydrogen production, industrial raw materials, and other non-power applications will rise 1.5 times from the 2025 level, equivalent to approximately 150 million tonnes of standard coal, significantly expanding the application scope of new energy.
The fourth one is about reliable peak power supply security. To mitigate the intermittency of wind and solar power, the average firm capacity of wind and solar power nationwide (equipped with generation-side storage) will rise to 8% by 2030—11% for wind and 6% for solar. During peak evening demand in summer and winter, the supply share of wind and solar (backed by generation-side storage) will exceed 20%, up 10% from current levels. A total of 300GW of new reliable peak-load clean power capacity will be added over the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Thus wind and solar will be required to deliver installed capacity as dependable output during critical supply periods, meaning that reliability, not gigawatts, will measures success.
The full text of the plan sets wind and solar projects a target for the share of their output that should be guaranteed, for example through on-site energy storage. It also said that non-electricity use of renewable energy, such as through green hydrogen production or wind and solar heating, should increase by 1.5 times compared to 2025.
Sources:
PVTech, July 28, 2026. https://www.pv-tech.org/chinas-15th-five-year-renewable-energy-plan-targets-370gw-new-solar-pv-wind-capacity-in-three-north-regions/
News on China, Tricontinental, Aug 8, 2026. https://thetricontinental.org/asia/news-on-china-no-34/
Read More:
Xinhua, 23 July 2026. https://english.news.cn/20260723/9687b9e5f1354e009bae575e0202ca34/c.html
Carbon Brief, 23 July 2026.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-briefing-23-july-2026-15th-five-year-plan-for-renewables-record-power-demand-hainans-petrol-car-ban
