Workers conduct an inspection of a wind and solar power plant in Ulaanqab, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on May 8. WANG ZHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY
China's total installed power generation capacity recently reached a historic milestone of 4.01 billion kilowatts, exceeding the combined total capacity of the United States, the European Union, India, Japan and Russia, according to data from the National Energy Administration on Thursday.
The data reveal a remarkably accelerating pace of expansion. While it took the country eight years to grow its capacity from 1 billion kW in 2011 to 2 billion kW in 2019, and five years to hit the 3-billion-kW mark by April 2024, adding the latest 1 billion kW took merely about two years.
Overall, from 2010 to 2025, China's power generation capacity maintained an average annual growth rate of 9.7 percent, outpacing the growth rates of the US, the EU, India, Japan and Russia during the same period.
Industry experts believe that shortening the timeframe to add 1 billion kilowatts of capacity from eight years down to roughly two years is a testament to China's formidable infrastructure construction and equipment manufacturing capabilities.
