AI rewiring how China's energy is managed

Industry experts view this hyper-growth as a testament to the country's formidable manufacturing base. Jiang Debin, deputy director of the statistics and data center at the China Electricity Council, said the fundamental driver behind this acceleration is the explosive rise of renewable energy, primarily solar and wind.

"This not only illustrates the continuous improvement in the efficiency and scale of China's power grid expansion, but also reflects the comprehensive advantages of the country's manufacturing system, engineering prowess and institutional mechanisms," Jiang said.

In an era where geopolitical conflicts have triggered energy shortages and price spikes globally, China has managed to keep its lights brightly on.

As the electricity demand of emerging sectors — particularly AI and high-end manufacturing — continues to surge, this massive 4-billion-kW foundation provides ironclad energy security for the nation's broader economic ambitions, said Jiang.

Crucially, this is not just a story of scale, but of transformation. The rapid expansion has been overwhelmingly driven by a structural shift toward clean energy.

Consequently, the national energy mix has been radically reconfigured. In the first half, China's coal-fired power generation totaled 2.5 trillion kilowatt-hours, accounting for less than 50 percent of the nation's total electricity output for the first time, said the NEA.

The installed capacity of renewable energy has been steadily expanding. In the first half, the country added 117 million kW of renewable energy capacity, accounting for 73.9 percent of all newly installed capacity. As of the end of June, the nation's total installed renewable energy capacity reached 2.46 billion kW, accounting for approximately 60.7 percent of China's total installed capacity.

Renewable energy electricity generation has also risen steadily. In the first half, national renewable energy power generation reached nearly 2 trillion kWh, an increase of about 9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 41.2 percent of total electricity generation, an official of the NEA said on Thursday.

This green revolution is underpinned by brutal, brilliant economics. Over the past decade, solar module prices have plummeted by more than 90 percent, while onshore wind generation costs have fallen to match or undercut coal. Driven by technological advancements and economies of scale, renewable energy has evolved from a heavily subsidized experiment into a fiercely profitable sector.

China boasts the world's most comprehensive renewable equipment supply chain, manufacturing about 80 percent of global solar modules and 60 percent of wind power equipment.

The accelerated rollout of supporting infrastructure — including ultra-high-voltage transmission lines, pumped hydro and new energy storage systems — ensures that massive new capacity can be effectively built, transmitted and absorbed by the grid, said Jiang.

Now, this staggering capacity is beginning to spill over China's borders. Leveraging its robust grid infrastructure, the country has steadily expanded power interconnectivity with neighboring countries — particularly in Southeast Asia — helping to alleviate regional power shortages while sharing its green energy dividends.

The China-Laos 500-kilovolt power interconnection project, for example, which marks the first time that foreign new-energy electricity has participated in China's marketized power trading system, had delivered nearly 200 million kWh by the end of May, demonstrating the massive potential of cross-border solar infrastructure.

As the largest cross-border grid project and the highest-voltage power link between China and Laos, the project is expected to transmit roughly 1.1 billion kWh of solar-generated electricity to China this year alone, said its operator China General Nuclear Power Group.

As industry experts note, China's most significant export extends far beyond raw electricity.

"The same industrial ecosystem that built this 4-billion-kW leviathan is now exporting complete, turnkey green energy solutions — advanced solar, wind and smart-grid technologies," said Jiang from the CEC. "This is positioning the country as an indispensable engine of the global energy transition."