Explainer: Why China is widely recognized as a global leader in wind energy

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- At the recent World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, claims were made that China produces large numbers of wind turbines while lacking wind farms of its own. These assertions were quickly rebutted by media outlets and experts alike.

Figures from the Chinese government and international institutions show that China is, in reality, an undisputed global powerhouse in wind energy -- both in terms of total installed capacity and technological strength.

Below are some facts about the development of China's wind energy sector.

HOW BIG IS CHINA'S WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY?

China has ranked first worldwide in installed wind power capacity for 15 consecutive years. The country's wind power capacity has expanded to 600 million kW by the end of November 2025, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

China has played an extraordinary role in advancing global wind power, adding 79.8 million kW of new capacity in 2024 -- up from 75.9 million kW in 2023. China accounts for 72 percent of the global market for new wind turbines -- a steady increase from 65 percent in 2023 and 58 percent in 2022, according to a report from the World Wind Energy Association.

In China, the world's largest electricity consumer, one in every three kilowatt-hours of electricity comes from green energy sources, powering daily life, while reshaping the national and global energy and industrial landscapes.

HOW FAST HAS CHINA'S WIND POWER SECTOR GROWN?

Over the past decade, China's wind power sector has expanded at a remarkable pace, firmly establishing the country as the world's largest wind energy producer. Installed wind capacity has risen from around 130 million kW in 2015 to 600 million kW by the end of November 2025, with China consistently leading the world in annual new installations.

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the share of wind and solar power in China's total electricity consumption has climbed steadily -- from 9.7 percent in 2020 to 18.6 percent in 2024, and to nearly one quarter in the first half of 2025.

This proportion has already exceeded the electricity consumption of the country's tertiary sector as well as that of urban and rural households. At the same time, newly added wind and solar generation has become the main driver of growth in overall electricity consumption, strongly underpinning the rising share of non-fossil energy in China's energy mix.

This rapid expansion has been driven by the development of large-scale onshore wind bases, the swift growth of offshore wind projects, continuous technological advances, and sustained policy support, allowing wind power to evolve from a supplementary source into a central pillar of China's power system.

HOW CHINA HAS CONTRIBUTED TO GLOBAL WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

As a global leader in renewable energy, China's green production capacity not only enriches its own energy supply but also creates broad opportunities for Global South countries to achieve low-carbon, leapfrog development, contributing to the building of a clean and beautiful world.

In 2024 alone, China exported 904 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 5.194 million kW to 23 countries, a 41.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to the 2024 China Wind Power Hoisting Capacity Statistical Briefing released by the China Wind Energy Association. By the end of 2024, China had exported a total of 5,799 wind turbines with a cumulative capacity of 20.788 million kW to 57 countries across six continents.

Official data showed that during the 2021-2025 period, wind power and photovoltaic products China exported helped reduce around 4.1 billion tons of carbon emissions in other countries.

Also, Chinese firms have pledged roughly 200 billion U.S. dollars in overseas clean energy investments since 2022, reported The Wired, a magazine, in December, saying that this is "beginning to narrow the gap in funding needed to slash the world's climate pollution." ■