China recorded a major turning point in its energy map in 2025. China Daily quoted Friday, March 27, reported that the electricity capacity from renewable energy in the country for the first time surpassed coal-fired plants, amid a record-breaking 10.4 trillion kilowatt-hour electricity consumption.
The figure puts China further ahead as the world's largest electricity consumer. Its electricity consumption is even said to exceed the combined use of electricity in the United States, Russia, India, Japan, Brazil, and Canada. At the same time, China Electricity Council (CEC) data shows that China's total installed capacity of power plants reached 3.89 billion kilowatts at the end of 2025, up 16.1 percent from a year earlier.
According to China Daily, this surge not only reflects the scale of China's economy, but also the changes in its industrial structure. Electricity consumption in the services sector rose 8.2 percent to 1.99 trillion kilowatt-hours, while demand from the information technology and software services sector jumped 17 percent.
This increase in electricity demand comes from, among other things, the widespread use of electric vehicles, charging stations, and new generation telecommunications infrastructure. Electricity consumption for charging and battery swapping services for electric vehicles even jumped 48.8 percent in 2025. This growth is supported by the world's largest charging network, which now includes more than 20 million facilities throughout China.
Export demand for China's three flagship technology products - electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and advanced photovoltaic products - has driven energy demand. Its export value is close to 1.3 trillion yuan or about 188.2 billion US dollars. As a result, electricity consumption in the high-tech manufacturing and equipment sector rose 6.4 percent.
China recorded major changes in its energy structure in 2025. The country's renewable energy capacity reached 1.8 billion kilowatts. The share of non-fossil energy now accounts for 61.7 percent of total installed capacity. Over the past year, renewable energy sources generated 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and became the main source of additional new generation.
China Daily also wrote that this change is supported by an ultra-high voltage power transmission network and an electricity distribution project from west to east. The project's capacity has increased to 340 million kilowatts and helped meet the average annual increase in electricity load of 80 million kilowatts in the fast-growing eastern and coastal areas.
The use of electricity in energy needs in China now accounts for about 30 percent, higher than the global average of 21 percent. This figure shows that China not only consumes a large amount of electricity, but is also changing the structure of its energy system.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
