NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday heaped praise on China’s renewable energy leap, pointing out that the country installed a staggering 256 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity in just the first half of 2025, more than the rest of the world combined.“China just installed a mind-boggling 256 GW of solar capacity in the first half of 2025, more than the rest of the world combined! This highlights their aggressive leadership in the global clean energy race,” Tharoor posted on X.The Congress MP said India, with its vast untapped solar potential, could learn from China’s aggressive push. “India, with its vast solar potential, has the opportunity to follow this lead, create a global power grid, and become self-sufficient in energy, maybe even an energy exporter,” he suggested.In his trademark flourish, Tharoor called for an ambitious rollout: “Let’s blanket every bit of barren land from the Thar desert to the Deccan Plateau with #SolarPower for #CleanEnergy! #ClimateAction.”His comments came as official Chinese data showed wind and solar power capacity had overtaken thermal power for the first time in history. By the end of March 2025, China’s installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power reached 1.482 billion kilowatts, according to Xinhua, while electricity generated from them in the first quarter hit 536.4 billion kilowatt-hours, making up 22.5% of the nation’s power consumption, a 4.3-point jump from last year. At the end of 2024, China’s total installed renewable power capacity stood at about 1.41 billion kilowatts, accounting for more than 40% of its electricity capacity and surpassing coal-fired power for the first time. Since 2013, wind capacity has grown sixfold, while solar capacity has soared more than 180 times.Beijing’s annual new installations now account for more than 40% of the global total, making it the undisputed leader in the world’s green energy transition.
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