The National Energy Administration (NEA) said China added 268 GW of new renewable energy capacity in the first half of 2025, up 99.3% year on year and accounting for 91.5% of all new power installations. Solar contributed 212 GW of the total – 100 GW from utility-scale projects and 112 GW from distributed systems – followed by 51.39 GW of new wind capacity, 3.93 GW of hydropower, and 710 MW of biomass. By the end of June 2025, total installed renewables capacity had reached 2.159 TW, or 59.2% of China’s total power generation capacity. Solar stood at 1.1 TW, wind at 573 GW, hydropower at 440 GW, and biomass at 47 GW. Solar power generation rose 42.9% year on year to 559.1 TWh, with a national utilization rate of 94%, said the NEA.

China Huadian Corp. has launched a 2025-26 centralized procurement tender for solar modules. The first lot includes 18 GW of n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) bifacial double-glass modules with efficiency above 22.5%. The second lot seeks 2 GW of high-efficiency modules, including TOPCon, heterojunction (HJT), and back-contact (BC) technologies, with conversion efficiency above 23.8%. The framework agreement runs through June 30, 2026, or until the next tender round begins.

Golden Solar said it has secured a CNY 100 million ($13.76 million) administrative debt investment from Cinda Investment to support daily operations and ramp up production for overseas HJT solar cell orders. The loan has a term of up to two years and an annual interest rate capped at 8%.

The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA) said polysilicon prices rose slightly last week. N-type recycled material averaged CNY 47,100 per ton, up 0.64% from the previous week, while granular silicon averaged CNY 44,300, up 0.68%. Production recovered to 10 domestic producers, with July output reaching 107,800 metric tons, a 5.7% increase from June. Cumulative output from January to July totaled 704,900 metric tons, down 41.5% year on year. August production is expected to rise to about 125,000 metric tons.

The CNMIA separately said that wafer prices continued to rise, with n-type G10L wafers (182 mm × 183.75 mm/130 μm) averaging CNY 1.10 per piece, up 4.76%. G12R wafers (182 mm × 210 mm/130 μm) rose 8.70% to CNY 1.25, while G12 wafers (210 mm × 210 mm/130 μm) increased 6.67% to CNY 1.44. Operating rates across the wafer industry remained steady. Downstream, solar cell prices climbed CNY 0.02 to between CNY 0.26/W and CNY 0.27/W, and modules rose CNY 0.01 to between CNY 0.66 and CNY 0.67. While recent increases have eased pressure on wafer producers, future pricing will depend on how much cost inflation downstream buyers can absorb, said the CNMIA.

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