Chinese Companies Lead Global New Energy Sector, Dominating the 2025 Top 500 Rankings

From September 27 to 28, the Taiyuan Low Carbon Development Forum was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. During the event, the 15th Forum on Innovation and Cooperation in the New Energy Industry took place alongside it, where several significant reports were released, including the 2025 Global New Energy Enterprises Top 500 Competitiveness Report (hereinafter referred to as the Top 500 Report) and the 2025 Carbon Neutral Green Impact Brand.

The Top 500 Report revealed that by 2025, there will be a total of 12 new energy companies worldwide with revenues exceeding 100 billion yuan, of which 8 are Chinese firms. These companies include Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, Tianneng Battery Group Co., Ltd., China Power Construction Corporation, BYD Company Limited, Hengtong Group Co., Ltd., GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited, China Energy Engineering Corporation, and Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd..

In terms of industry development, Chinese new energy enterprises have made the leap from following to leading. Experts at the event noted that these companies not only excel in the domestic market but are also strategically expanding their supply chains and markets globally, showcasing Chinese technology and manufacturing to the world.

The long-term positive fundamentals of the industry remain solid. The Global New Energy Enterprises Top 500 Forum has been held in conjunction with the Taiyuan Low Carbon Development Forum for six consecutive years. The theme for the 2025 forum was “Resilient Growth Across Cycles”, focusing on how the new energy sector can navigate cyclical fluctuations, intensified competition, and other challenges in the current era of major changes.

According to Zhang Xiang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Shanxi Provincial Energy Bureau, the new energy industry, a core driver of achieving the “dual carbon” goals and advancing the energy revolution, is currently facing a cyclical turning point after years of rapid growth, with new risks and challenges ahead.

Data analysis shows that the total revenue of the top 500 enterprises in 2025 is projected to reach 9.55 trillion yuan, a slight increase from 9.54 trillion yuan the previous year, marking a growth of 0.10% but a decrease of 10.06 percentage points year-on-year. The average scale of these enterprises is estimated to be 190.94 billion yuan, a minor increase from 190.82 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 0.07%, also reflecting a year-on-year decline of 10.05 percentage points for two consecutive years.

Wei Qiuli, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Energy Economics, commented on the Top 500 Report, stating that while the overall growth rate of the new energy sector has slowed, the continued expansion of domestic installed capacity and the ongoing development of end-use markets indicate that the Chinese new energy industry is still on an upward trend.

Various industry organizations predict that by 2060, the installed capacity for wind and solar energy in China will exceed 5 billion kilowatts, indicating significant growth potential for the new energy sector. Several experts interviewed during the forum expressed that, thanks to strategic guidance at the national level and proactive innovation by operational entities, the development of China’s new energy industry possesses inherent resilience. Despite facing short-term fluctuations, the long-term positive fundamentals remain robust.

Innovation and integration have become key supports for overcoming cyclical challenges. As of the end of July, the total installed capacity of renewable energy in China reached 2.171 billion kilowatts, accounting for nearly 60% of the country’s total installed capacity. Among this, the cumulative installed capacity for wind and solar energy reached 1.68 billion kilowatts, making up 46% of the total installed capacity, surpassing thermal power generation for the first time in history.

According to Yin Xulong, Chairman of Yingli Energy Development Co., Ltd., as the installed capacity of clean energy such as wind and solar continues to grow, the challenge of energy consumption has become the main constraint on the development of new energy. He stated that policies such as the “Document 136” and subsequent measures for zero-carbon parks and direct green electricity connections indicate that the new energy sector has shifted from being policy-driven to being driven by end-use applications.

Experts generally view technological innovation as a crucial support for navigating this cycle. Liu Zhenmin, China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs, emphasized the need to drive low-carbon energy transformation through technological innovation, fostering energy technologies and related industries as new growth points for industrial upgrading in China.

Shi Yubo, President of the China Energy Research Society, suggested enhancing the deep integration of industry, academia, research, application, and finance to facilitate a seamless innovation and industry chain. He advocated for actively exploring a development model that integrates new energy with innovation, such as cross-industry integration with emerging technologies like the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big data, creating new application scenarios and business models while fostering an innovative ecosystem.

On September 24, China announced a new round of national voluntary contribution targets at the United Nations Climate Change Summit: by 2035, net greenhouse gas emissions across the economy are expected to decrease by 7%-10% from peak levels, with non-fossil energy consumption accounting for more than 30% of total energy consumption. The combined installed capacity for wind and solar power is projected to exceed six times that of 2020, aiming for 3.6 billion kilowatts.

In light of this new vision, many experts believe that China’s new energy industry is transitioning from a focus on scale to quality, from price competition to value competition, and from isolated efforts to ecosystem-wide cooperation, paving the way for a promising future.