China’s solar energy production is reaching simply staggering levels, dragging energy costs down around the globe.
, a viral drone video from China’s Guizhou province revealed an entire mountain range blanketed in solar panels stretching to the horizon. It’s a stunning visual, but it doesn’t even begin to capture the staggering amount of solar power being produced by the People’s Republic.
As of 2024, China was responsible for 64 percent of the world’s utility-scale solar and wind construction, with 339 gigawatt hours of renewable energy infrastructure in the works, even though it only has around 17 percent of the planet’s population.
To put that in perspective, at that point the total electricity capacity of the planet— not just solar, but nuclear, coal, gas, and renewable energy, all added together — was about 10 terawatts.
