The air conditioner at home blows cool breeze, electric cars are speeding on the road, and the computing center is running at high speed... Behind the scenes of production and life, a lot of green electricity converted from sunlight is working silently.
The latest data from the National Energy Administration shows that as of the end of July this year, my country's installed photovoltaic power generation capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts, including 704 million kilowatts of centralized photovoltaics and 582 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaics. The installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation exceeded that of coal power for the first time (the installed capacity of coal power was 1.285 billion kilowatts), becoming the power source category with the largest installed capacity in my country.
"This is another important stage of progress and landmark achievement in my country's green and low-carbon energy transformation since the proportion of coal power generation historically dropped below 50% in the first half of the year." said Hao Yingjie, Secretary-General of the China Electricity Council.
New energy is accelerating its transformation from supplementary energy to the main force in installed capacity
Photovoltaic installed capacity has surpassed coal power. How do you view the significance of this milestone? Hao Yingjie analyzed it from three aspects.
This marks that under the conditions of my country's energy resource endowment, the pattern of coal power as the largest power source in the century since the birth of the power industry has been broken. New energy has accelerated its transformation from supplementary energy to the main installed capacity, and the construction of a new power system with new energy as the main body has accelerated.
This confirms the competitive advantages of the entire photovoltaic industry chain in my country. Component manufacturing technology has blossomed in many areas, with crystalline silicon cells leading the world in conversion efficiency, and research and development of next-generation technologies such as perovskite cells accelerating... my country has formed the most complete and most competitive photovoltaic industry chain in the world, accounting for about 80% of the world's photovoltaic module output. At the same time, domestic large-scale installed capacity has further released economies of scale, driven iterative upgrades in photovoltaic technology, and consolidated my country's global leadership in photovoltaic manufacturing, technical standards, and engineering construction.
This demonstrates my country's firm determination to promote the low-carbon transformation of global energy. Looking at the world, the installed photovoltaic power generation capacity of 1.286 billion kilowatts ranks first in a single country in the world and is the country with the largest photovoltaic application in the world. The major achievement of realizing photovoltaic surpassing coal power will better provide Chinese solutions and Chinese experience for developing countries to learn from in promoting energy transformation.
In recent years, my country’s power installed capacity pattern has achieved multiple “leapfrogs”——
At the end of June 2023, the installed capacity of renewable energy will exceed that of coal power for the first time;
By the end of the first quarter of 2025, the total installed capacity of wind power and photovoltaic power will exceed that of thermal power;
At the end of July 2026, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation will historically surpass coal power and become the largest power source.
“Achievements after achievements have laid a solid foundation for electric power to achieve the ‘double carbon’ goal.” Hao Yingjie said that the power industry is a key area of carbon emissions, and the scale of photovoltaic power generation installations continues to grow, which will continue to reduce the industry’s carbon emission intensity, expand green power supply capabilities, and provide clean power support for electrification upgrades in industry, transportation and other fields.
Empowering thousands of industries and promoting green transformation
Dark blue photovoltaic panels are spread out on the roof of Gangba Primary School in Gangba Village, Zishu Township, Longchuan County, Yunnan Province.
"In the past, the village's income mainly depended on raising sheep, which was unstable, but now you can make money just by sunbathing on the roof." Gangba Village Party Organization Secretary Dao Dingzhou said that Gangba Village has a weak industrial foundation, and the implementation of the distributed photovoltaic project has changed the situation of the village having no stable industry and no fixed income, and can bring a stable income increase of more than 24,000 yuan to the collective economy every year.
Kang Dingsheng, the new energy and energy storage service manager of the Grid Planning Department of Yunnan Dehong Power Supply Bureau of China Southern Power Grid, said that the project in Gangba Village has a total installed capacity of 50 kilowatts and will be connected to the grid and put into operation at the end of 2025. The average annual power generation is expected to be about 74,000 kilowatt hours, turning sunlight into "green wealth" in the hands of villagers.
At present, photovoltaics are constantly integrated into diverse scenes such as villages, factories, and deserts, gradually transcending the single "power generation" function and evolving into a comprehensive value carrier that empowers thousands of industries and promotes green transformation.
In terms of distributed photovoltaics, with the advancement of the "Every Household Lighting Action", more than 8.3 million residents across the country have become distributed photovoltaic owners. Rooftop photovoltaics, assisted power stations, etc. are becoming "sunshine banks" that strengthen villages and enrich people.
In the centralized aspect, in the "Shagohuang" area in the northwest, photovoltaic arrays effectively reduce surface wind speed and water evaporation, creating favorable conditions for the growth of vegetation under the panels, allowing energy production and ecological restoration to complement each other. From the beginning of 2025 to the end of April this year, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and other provinces have added 8,758 kilowatts of photovoltaic installed capacity, and controlled an area of 2.3 million acres of desertified land.
In terms of integration, with the help of new scenarios such as integrated photovoltaic storage, charging and swapping, zero-carbon parks, zero-carbon factories, and building photovoltaic integration, photovoltaic power generation is being deeply integrated with transportation, industry, construction and other fields, providing a strong guarantee for building a green, low-carbon, and more resilient new energy supply and consumption system.
The "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" clearly states that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the "Three North" wind power and photovoltaic bases will have new installed capacity of more than 370 million kilowatts, and the new installed capacity of distributed new energy nationwide will be more than 300 million kilowatts, promoting the multi-scenario diversified development of distributed new energy and the intensive utilization of space.
It is predicted that investment in the photovoltaic industry is expected to exceed 2 trillion yuan in the next five years, with vast space.
Promote the transformation of photovoltaics into "schedulable and predictable"
In Zhongwei City, Ningxia, on the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert, photovoltaic panels stretch. The sunlight is slightly slanting in the evening, and the power generation curve is all the way down. A few kilometers away, four 660-megawatt coal-fired units of National Energy's Ningxia Tengger Zhongwei Power Plant stand side by side, ready to "fill in" at any time.
In January this year, Unit 4 was the first to pass the 168-hour full-load trial operation, marking the official transfer of the country's first batch of peak-shaving power supplies from the "Shagehuang" new energy base into commercial operation.
Photovoltaic "depends on the sky", and its output fluctuates day by day; coal power is responsible for peak load regulation, smoothing fluctuations in new energy, and escorting stable power transmission for UHV channels.
Xiao Zhongtu, deputy general manager of Ningxia Zhongwei Thermal Power Co., Ltd. of the National Energy Group, said: "When photovoltaic power surges at noon, coal power reduces the load to a minimum to make way for green power. In the morning and evening, when photovoltaics fail to contribute, coal power quickly comes up to fill the delivery gap." As of May this year, the Zhongwei 3-million-kilowatt photovoltaic project at the "Shagehuang" new energy base in Tengger, Ningxia, has been connected to the grid and has delivered 3.99 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to Hunan.
Photovoltaic has "reached the top" and become the largest power source, but the "advance" of photovoltaics does not mean the "retreat" of coal power. Liu Zhiqiang, deputy director of the Planning and Development Department of the China Electricity Council, said that from a realistic perspective, the installed capacity is not equal to the actual power generation capacity and power generation. Photovoltaic power generation is subject to the alternation of day and night and meteorological conditions, and has significant intermittent and fluctuating characteristics. The number of utilization hours is much lower than that of coal power. In the short term, coal power will continue to be my country's main supporting power source and play a fundamental role in system safety.
How to transform installed capacity advantages into stable and reliable power supply capabilities? The key is to accelerate the construction of new power systems, including accelerating the large-scale construction of pumped hydro and new energy storage, and focusing on improving the system's flexible adjustment capabilities.
Liu Zhiqiang believes that it is necessary to strengthen the construction of a new power grid platform for the coordinated development of main and distribution microgrids, strengthen the ability of large power grids to accept, allocate and regulate new energy; enhance the reliable substitution capability of new energy, gradually increase the confidence output and peak power generation capacity of photovoltaic power generation through technological innovation and system optimization, explore multiple development models such as photovoltaic and storage integration, photothermal complementary, and photovoltaic hydrogen production, and promote the transformation of photovoltaics from "depending on the weather" to "schedulable and predictable".
