China targets 53% jump in renewable energy use by 2030

China wants renewable energy consumption to jump 53 percent over the next five years and to convert intermittent wind and solar into dependable sources of electricity, according to a plan published by the country's top economic planner.

Renewable power use should rise to about 1.8 billion tons of standard coal equivalent by 2030, up from 1.18 billion tons in 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration said in the 15th Five-Year Plan for renewable energy development. Total installed renewable power generation capacity will reach 3.5 billion kilowatts by 2030, with annual power generation hitting 6 trillion kilowatt-hours.

"The renewable energy sector will enter a new development stage featuring scale expansion, quality improvement and reliable substitution," the NDRC said in the document published on its website. Combined installed capacity of wind and solar power will exceed 2.8 billion kilowatts, accounting for more than 50 percent of total installed capacity, while annual wind and solar generation will surpass 4 trillion kilowatt-hours, representing 30 percent of total power output.

The plan sets a confidence output target — a measure of how much intermittent renewable capacity can be counted on as firm power — at 8 percent nationally for wind and photovoltaic power including source-side energy storage, with wind at 11 percent and solar at 6 percent. The share of wind and solar electricity during peak summer and winter evening demand periods must exceed 20 percent, up about 10 percentage points from current levels. Newly added reliable peak-shaving renewable capacity during the five-year period will exceed 300 million kilowatts.

The Reliability Challenge

China's wind and solar fleet has expanded rapidly — total installed capacity exceeded 1.2 billion kilowatts by the end of 2025 — but the grid has struggled to absorb the output. Curtailment rates for wind and solar have periodically exceeded 5 percent in northern provinces, eroding project economics. The new plan addresses this by mandating source-side energy storage co-located with renewable projects and by setting explicit confidence output targets that force developers to invest in hybrid configurations.

Non-power renewable energy utilization — including biomass, geothermal, and green hydrogen — must increase 1.5 times from 2025 levels to about 150 million tons of standard coal equivalent by 2030, the plan said. This broadens the policy's reach beyond the electricity sector into industrial heat, transport fuels, and hydrogen production.

What This Means for Investors

The plan provides a multi-year policy roadmap that de-risks capital allocation across China's clean energy supply chain. For wind turbine manufacturers such as Goldwind Science & Technology Co. and Dongfang Electric Corp., the 2.8 billion kilowatt wind-solar target implies sustained annual installation volumes well above 2025 levels. Goldwind shares rose 4 percent in Hong Kong trading, while Dongfang Electric gained 5.7 percent. Solar inverter maker SigenEnergy jumped 6.3 percent, and China Longyuan Power Group, the country's largest wind farm operator, added 2.3 percent.

The reliability mandate creates a parallel growth driver for energy storage. China's battery storage deployments reached 35 gigawatts in 2025, according to BloombergNEF, and the 300 million kilowatt peak-shaving target over five years implies annual additions could more than double. CATL and BYD, the dominant battery suppliers, stand to benefit from the storage buildout alongside project developers such as China Resources Power Holdings Co., which rose 1.4 percent.

China has already set 2030 targets for total renewable capacity and for non-fossil fuel's share of primary energy consumption. The 15th Five-Year Plan translates those headline goals into binding operational metrics — confidence output, peak demand share, and non-power utilization — that force the industry to solve the intermittency problem rather than simply build more capacity. For global clean energy investors, the plan signals that China's renewable buildout is shifting from volume to value, rewarding companies that can deliver firm, dispatchable renewable power.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.