How many gigawatts does China produce with wind power alone?
Executive summary
China’s installed wind power capacity — meaning the total gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines connected to the grid — is not a small or symbolic number but measured in the high hundreds of gigawatts: contemporary reporting places China’s operating wind fleet at roughly 570–580 GW as of mid-to-late 2025, with other official tallies reporting 520 GW at the end of 2024 as the country raced through large annual additions [1][2][3]. Policy targets and industry declarations now aim to push that installed base well past 1,000 GW (1.3 TW) by 2030, underscoring that current figures are a snapshot on a steep growth curve [4][5].
1. Current operating capacity: the best-supported range
Independent trackers and industry reports converge on an operating wind capacity in the high 500s of gigawatts: Global Energy Monitor’s Global Wind Power Tracker counted China’s operating wind capacity at about 570 GW as of May 2025 after substantial 2025 additions, while Chinese state media and official statistics cited cumulative figures near 580 GW by late 2025 [1][2]. Those independent and official tallies bracket earlier government figures that put cumulative wind capacity at roughly 520 GW at the end of 2024, reflecting rapid year-to-year additions that make single-year snapshots quickly outdated [3].
2. Why sources differ: capacity growth and reporting lags
Differences among 520 GW, 570 GW and 580 GW stem from timing and counting conventions — whether a project is counted when turbines are mechanically complete, when grid-connected, or when producing commercial electricity — and from large installation rates in 2024–2025 [3][1]. Energy consultancies and government releases document large annual additions (dozens of gigawatts per year), so a figure quoted for year-end 2024 can be substantially lower than a mid‑2025 operating total once under-construction and newly grid‑connected projects come online [6][7].
3. Capacity vs. generation: the important distinction
“Gigawatts produced” is ambiguous: most reporting and targets refer to installed capacity in gigawatts (GW), not to annual output in gigawatt‑hours or terawatt‑hours. China’s installed wind capacity in the 570–580 GW range represents the nameplate capacity of turbines; actual yearly electricity produced depends on wind resources, curtailment and grid integration. For historical context, wind-generated electricity in China was already hundreds of terawatt‑hours annually (China produced 466.5 TWh from wind in 2021, per compiled databases), but contemporary annual generation will vary with capacity additions and grid conditions [8].
4. The growth story behind the headline number
China has been adding massive amounts of wind capacity year after year — official and industry roadmaps now call for at least 120 GW of new wind installations annually in the 2026–2030 period and a target of 1.3 TW cumulative wind capacity by 2030 [4][5][9]. Independent analysts and data providers reported very large additions in 2024–2025 (for example, tens of gigawatts added in 2024 and more than 50 GW in the first half of 2025 alone), which explains why the installed total climbed rapidly from the 2024 figure toward the 570–580 GW range in 2025 [6][7][1].
5. What can be asserted with confidence — and what cannot
With the provided reporting, it is supportable to state that China’s installed wind power capacity stood in the vicinity of 570–580 GW by mid/late 2025, and that earlier official counts put the year‑end 2024 total around 520 GW [1][2][3]. Precise minute‑to‑minute “production” in GW at any moment — and exact annual generation numbers for 2025 beyond published datasets — are not fully settled in these sources; calculation of instantaneous power output or up‑to‑the‑day generation would require real‑time grid data not included in the cited reporting.