Top Chinese Energy Developments During 2025

Developments in Chinese energy during 2025 not only reshaped the world's largest energy consumer and green energy equipment exporter, but the geoeconomics of international energy.getty As Beijing accelerates its push for energy security, technological self-reliance, and decarbonization, 2025 has produced a wave of landmark policies and mega-projects reshaping China’s energy landscape. From record-breaking hydropower to sweeping legal reforms and nuclear advancements, here are the five most significant developments of the year that any China or energy watcher needs to be aware of. 1: China Begins To Build The World’s Largest Dam, Again China’s most controversial energy project of 2025 is unfolding deep in a remote river gorge in eastern Tibet near the disputed Indian border. Indian officials have warned the project could enable Beijing to unleash “water bombs” in a future conflict, while New Delhi has floated building retaliatory dams of its own. Sometimes called the “water tower of Asia,” Tibet’s glaciers feed major river systems across China and South Asia. Hydropower potential in the region has long been central to China’s decarbonization strategy, with major dams already built along the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Engineers have eyed the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon—site of the Brahmaputra’s steep descent—for years. Beijing formally approved the mega-project on December 24, 2024, paving the way for what will become one of the world’s most ambitious hydropower initiatives.Two dams will barricade the Yarlung Tsangpo. Early projections in May 2025 estimated a cost of US$137 billion and power output triple that of the Three Gorges Dam. By July 19, 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang confirmed construction had begun on five cascading hydropower stations at a total investment of US$167.8 billion.Beijing argues the dam could lift GDP by 0.1 percentage points annually for a decade, a welcome stimulus for an economy weakened by a real-estate slump. But Bloomberg estimates suggest electricity costs may far exceed those of wind or solar.MORE FOR YOUEnvironmentalists warn that the canyon is a biodiversity hotspot harboring ancient trees and endangered wildlife. Officials in India’s Arunachal Pradesh fear downstream drying or catastrophic flooding. Scholars such as Ameya Pratap Singh warn the dam could give China a “chokehold” over India’s economy.Chinese analysts reject “water weaponization” claims. Hao Nan of the Charhar Institute argues the project could make Tibet a regional development hub benefiting India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh and notes that the project’s real motivation may be supplying the massive computing power required for China’s AI ambitions. 2:China Enacts Its First National Energy Law Approved by China’s National People’s Congress on November 8, 2024 and taking effect on January 1, 2025, China’s Energy Law establishes the country’s first comprehensive legal framework governing the entire energy sector. Structured into nine chapters, the law encompasses: General Provisions, Energy Planning, Energy Development and Utilization, Energy Market System, Energy Reserves and Emergency Response, Energy Technology Innovation, Supervision and Management, Legal Liability, and Supplementary Provisions, totaling eighty articles. The legislation is designed to advance several core objectives: promoting renewable energy and sustainable development, strengthening regulatory accountability, and creating a more market-oriented environmental capable of encouraging deeper private-sector participation. Through its explicit support for ‘new energy’ and codification of its carbon neutrality goals, the law reinforces Beijing’s broader climate strategy and accelerates innovation across emerging clean-energy technologies. Taken together, the Energy Law represents a structural shift in China’s energy governance. It replaces a patchwork of sectoral rules with a unified, system-wide framework and signals the country’s renewed commitment to driving its green-energy transition through clearer mandates, stronger institutions, and legally entrenched climate ambitions. 3: China Uses Its Critical Minerals Dominance, Restricts Exports China exercised pronounced leverage over its dominance in the critical mineral supply chain, rolling out a series of increasingly assertive export controls this past year that has sharpened geopolitical tensions. In February of 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs of China announced that, for the purposes of safeguarding national security, they would be restricting specific ‘tech-metals’ related to tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium. These materials are key in industrial and defense applications, solar cell manufacturing, and semiconductor manufacturing. These restrictions were interpreted by analysts to be retaliation against Trump’s tariffs, albeit leveraged through a non-tariff measure. These export controls were followed by further action made on April 4th, 2025 when Beijing implemented major export controls on seven ‘medium and heavy’ rare-earth elements: samarium (Sm), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), lutetium (Lu), scandium (Sc), and yttrium (Y). These elements are critical for the manufacturing of permanent magnets. The export control required exporters of the listed materials to apply for a dual-use license, subjecting applicants to a lengthy and, what the EU described as “intrusive,” process. China’s October 9th, 2025 export control rollouts were the most aggressive of its kind to date. It broadened its export control, covering production as well as processing equipment for rare-earths, magnets, and technological knowledge such as designs. Under these new provisions, foreign firms exporting magnets with even trace amounts of Chinese-origin rare earths or that were produced with Chinese technologies would be required to obtain Chinese government approval beforehand. While the October 30 meeting between Trump and Xi ended with the latter agreeing to suspend the implementation of these measures for the United States, it appeared that it was less a gesture of goodwill than a calculated warning: China could and would match Washington measure for measure if needed and the U.S. should think carefully before any moves toward escalation. 4: China Pushes Forward The Jinneng Solar Project Spearheaded by the Jinneng Group, a Shanxi-based state-owned energy company, construction for a 5 GW solar project broke ground in late spring. It is projected to supply 9.3 TWh of clean electricity per year and with a total investment standing at approximately $2.3 billion, the project ranks among China's most ambitious renewable developments to date. Rather than a single facility, it comprises three large photovoltaic farms built across former coal-mining zones near Datong in northern Shanxi. To address the intermittency of solar power, the complex will be supported by 2 GW of thermal power and 3.4 GWh of energy storage, ensuring greater stability across the regional grid. Electricity generated at the site will flow to major urban hubs Beijing and Tianjin via a 1,000 kV ultra-high-voltage transmission corridor linking Datong to northern China’s population centers. Beyond its scale, the project is notable for what it represents: a decisive pivot by Jinneng away from coal and toward large-scale renewables, aligned with China’s record-breaking surge in wind and solar installations. By converting coal-subsidence areas into clean-energy bases, the Jinneng project symbolizes Shanxi’s transformation from a coal heartland into a core participant in China’s low-carbon transition. 5: China Bets Big On Cutting Edge Nuclear Energy Constructed by China General Nuclear Power Group, the Zhaoyuan nuclear power plant is located in Shandong Province and is China’s newest and most ambitious third-generation nuclear project. The facility will house six Hualong One reactors and once fully completed, is expected to generate 50 billion kilowatt-hours annually. This amount is enough to meet the yearly electricity demands of roughly five million people. Zhaoyuan’s design also distinguishes itself technologically. Instead of relying on conventional seawater cooling systems, the plan will employ an atmospheric heat-sink effect to dissipate heat, a feature that marks a notable departure from standard nuclear engineering practices.Once fully operational, Zhaoyua’s six Huyalong One units will play a substantial role in China’s decarbonization efforts. Its output is projected to displace approximately 15.27 million tons of coal and eliminate an estimated 46.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions yearly, making Zhaoyuan both a flagship of China’s nuclear expansion and a significant contributor to its broader pollution-reduction goals. Zhaoyuan, while cutting edge, is not atypical. It is merely one out of 29 nuclear reactors under construction. China has clearly identified nuclear power as the optimal solution to any deficiencies related to baseload power from its renewables initiatives.