China Wind and Solar Brief 2026 Methodology

Data sources

The data is gathered from Global Energy Monitor's Global Solar Power Tracker and Global Wind Power Tracker. Along with this briefing a data addendum was released with updated wind and solar data for China. Global data outside of China are specifically from the February 2026 versions of these trackers.

The solar and wind datasets are available for download. Currently released datasets can be found here (solar) and here (wind) under a creative commons license. And the China data addendum can be downloaded here.

Terminology

The following terms are used throughout the text:

Utility-scale: This refers to any project that is large enough to be included in the Global Wind and Global Solar Power Trackers. GEM catalogs all wind installations greater than or equal to 10 MW, all operating solar projects at or above 1MW and all prospective solar projects at or above 20MW.

Distributed: GEM catalogs all solar installations less than 1 MW as distributed.

Announced: Proposed projects that have been described in corporate or government plans or media releases but have not yet taken concrete steps such as applying for permits.

Pre-construction: Projects that are actively moving forward in seeking governmental approvals, land rights, or financing.

Construction: Site preparation and equipment installation are underway.

Operating: The project has been formally commissioned; commercial operation has begun.

Prospective: Any project that are either announced, in pre-construction, or under construction. To get perspective capacity numbers we sum the capacity of projects that are announced, plus the capacity of projects that are in pre-construction, plus the capacity of projects that are under construction.

Methodology

Data collection is done via secondary research by GEM staff; the Solar and Wind methodology pages describes the process a bit more. The Solar and Wind FAQ pages also provide information about the datasets.

Generation equivalent of under-construction wind capacity in China

GEM data shows 251 GW of under-construction wind capacity in China. The briefing states: “Once fully operational, that capacity could generate roughly as much electricity annually as Germany generated from all sources in 2025.”

251 GW x 24 x 365 x capacity factor (0.25) x 90% utilization ≈ 495 TWh

Germany annual electricity demand in 2025 was 499.4 TWh.

Estimating number of UHV transmission lines need to move 315 GW of capacity from megabases

Assume the capacity factor is 25% for wind and 13.7% for solar (2200 equivalent full-load hours for wind and 1200 for solar). The ratio between wind and solar is 1:2. Each UHV transmission line carries 36 TWh per year, of which renewables and coal are evenly divided.

Estimating Green Hydrogen Capacities

GEM tracks wind and solar capacities that will be dedicated for green hydrogen production. Assuming 55 kWh of electricity is needed to produce 1 kg of green hydrogen and assuming X capacity factors for wind and solar gives us kg of green hydrogen produced per year. GEM data show an additional 53 GW of wind and solar capacity dedicated for green hydrogen production is under development, capable of  producing 1.6 mega tonnes annually.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 3

Data sources for chart #3:

1. Japan solar: IEA/IRENA
2. India and Germany wind: IRENA
3. Utility-scale solar, distributed solar, wind for all other countries: Global Energy Monitor

Figure 4

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 5