Junma Solar Power Station is a Chinese solar farm that resembles a galloping horse and set a Guinness world record for the largest image made of solar panels. Junma means “fine horse” in Mandarin. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
While our United States federal government works to make it easier and cheaper for companies to produce oil and gas, other countries are taking the lead in clean energy. China is the largest carbon polluter globally, emitting the most carbon dioxide (CO2) compared to any other country, yet they are making the fastest clean energy advances in the world. In 2024, China broke its own records for the installation of new solar and wind power. Solar capacity increased by 45.2% compared to 2023, and wind power increased 18%. Altogether, almost half of the world’s wind and solar energy combined is produced in China.
China has begun implementing massive solar projects, such as the “Solar Great Wall” in northern China. When completed, this wall of solar panels will stretch over 82 miles long and 15 miles wide and will generate enough energy to power all of Beijing. The Junma Solar Power Station is part of this great wall and is a collection of nearly 200,000 solar panels that have been placed to form the outline of a galloping horse. The horse is representative of Mongolia, where the array is located, but also serves as a visual representation of the breakneck speed that China is building out green energy projects.
China isn’t just focusing on large solar fields in the desert–they are funding solar on the roofs of rural homes through their Whole Country PV Program. Chinese counties that participate in the program have a goal of adding solar to 20% of residential rooftops. They are bringing down price by contracting with a single installer to do all of the installation work. This model reduces the cost of solar and is designed specifically for less populated areas.
China isn’t alone in moving towards a clean energy transition. In 2024, solar energy in the European Union surpassed coal as a source of electricity for the first time; Coal-burning for electricity has been declining in the EU since 2003. In Germany, renewables made up 60% of the power generation mix last year, and Pakistan has put up the equivalent of half of their national electric grid in solar panels in the last year. As solar and wind continue to grow, fossil fuels are slowly being pushed out of the electricity mix.
Despite the US administration’s push for fossil fuel production, the global reality is that fossil-fueled electricity generation is expected to drop this year, and renewables like solar and wind are expected to continue to accelerate. A 2024 report projects that fossil-fueled electricity generation will decline 2% in 2025, even as the need for electricity rises.
