China’s electricity system remains heavily dependent on coal, but the country’s future energy growth is increasingly being driven by cleaner sources. While coal continues to supply the largest share of power generation, renewable energy and nuclear power are rapidly expanding their role in the world’s largest electricity market.
Last year, the East Asian country generated approximately 10,575 TWh of electricity, with thermal power contributing more than 6,000TWh. Coal therefore remains the backbone of the power system and is unlikely to be displaced in absolute terms anytime soon. However, the source of new electricity supply is changing.
Between 2020 and 2025, electricity generation from hydro, wind, and solar increased to 3,763 TWh, representing an increase of about 80%. Most of this growth came from wind and solar rather than hydropower.
Solar also surged to 1,173 TWh, with wind generation more than doubling to 1,128 TWh. Additionally, hydroelectric output also rose modestly to 1,462 TWh.
Nuclear energy is also strengthening its position in China’s power mix. Last year, nuclear plants produced around 485 TWh, accounting for nearly 5% of total electricity generation. As of May 2026, the country operated sixty reactors with 58.7 GW of capacity and had another thirty-six reactors under construction.
This substantial pipeline will significantly expand the country’s low-carbon baseload generation capability.
When hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear power are combined, clean electricity generation reached approximately 4,200TWh last year, representing about 40% of total output. This is a significant increase from the 32% in 2020, highlighting the scale of China’s energy transition. The outlook suggests this trend will continue.
China already has more than 1.8 TW of installed wind and solar capacity, with hundreds of gigawatts of additional projects under development. The International Energy Agency expects most new electricity demand through 2030 to be met by renewables and nuclear, with renewable generation approaching half of total power output by the end of the decade.
Coal will remain important for reliability and energy security, but its role in meeting future demand is likely to diminish. For global commodity markets, this implies a more limited growth outlook for imported thermal coal, and, to a lesser extent, LNG.
Rather than causing an immediate decline in fossil fuel imports, China’s clean energy expansion is increasingly acting as a ceiling on their long-term growth.
Overall, while fossil fuels may continue to play a role in many economies for the foreseeable future, clean energy’s importance is increasing, driven by falling costs, technological advances, and growing demand for low-carbon power.
With companies like MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX) (OTC: MAXXF) developing new ways to source natural hydrogen energy and add it to the energy mix of various economies, the future looks bright for the accelerating energy transition movement.
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