A drone photo taken on Jan. 13, 2026 shows the construction site of a 20-megawatt offshore wind turbine unit in the coastal waters of southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

China has set a goal of producing green renewable energy of 1.8 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2030, or the end-year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period.

The country aims to achieve in 2030 a renewable energy generation capacity of around 3.5 billion kilowatts, with that year's total energy generation reaching 6 trillion kilowatt-hours, of which green new-energy power output accounts for 30 percent.

The decision was announced in a notice issued by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, and the National Energy Administration (NEA), in an effort to accelerate renewable energy development and move toward realizing the country's carbon reduction goals.

And, in 2030, the combined installed capacity of wind and solar power is expected to exceed 2.8 billion kilowatts. By 2030, the total scale of non-electric renewable energy application is expected to increase 1.5 times from the 2025 level, equivalent to around 150 million tons of standard coal.

To ensure the implementation of the above-mentioned targets and tasks, China will introduce corresponding institutional reforms and policy support, including accelerating the revision of the renewable energy law, improving mechanisms to promote renewable energy consumption, and launching a nationwide survey of wind and solar resources based on present pilot programs, according to the NDRC.

The renewable energy targets set for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) not only demonstrate China's determination to continue expanding its green energy supply capacity, but also indicate that the country's energy transition is shifting from simply pursuing growth in installed capacity to a greater focus on high-quality development, including improving the efficiency of green renewable energy utilization, Lin Boqiang, chair professor and dean of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy of the School of Management at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Lin said that, as wind and solar power are characterized by intermittency and volatility, further increasing new-energy storage capacity and lowering costs will be essential to the realization of those targets.

Global Times