China's solar capacity overtakes coal for first time

China's installed solar capacity surpassed coal for the first time at the end of July, making photovoltaics the country's largest power source by installed capacity, according to data from financial media Cailian. Accumulated solar capacity reached 1,286 gigawatts (GW), slightly above coal's 1,285 GW. Of the total, 704 GW came from centralized installations and 582 GW from distributed generation. Between January and July, China added 85.65 GW of solar capacity, down 62% year-on-year, though solar generation rose 15.5% to 802.4 billion kilowatt-hours, representing 13% of national electricity consumption. Renewables generated 41.2% of China's electricity in the first half of the year, surpassing 40% for the first time. Beijing aims for non-fossil sources to generate half of national electricity by 2030, targeting peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.