Technicians check solar panels in Chuzhou, Anhui province. SONG WEIXING/FOR CHINA DAILY

China's energy sector has crossed a historic threshold, with coal-fired power generation accounting for less than 50 percent of the nation's total electricity output for the first time, according to official data.

Coal power generation stood at 2.5 trillion kilowatt-hours in the first six months, bringing its share down to 49.7 percent, said Xing Yiteng, deputy director-general of the National Energy Administration's development planning department, during a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

"Falling below 50 percent of total power generation for the first time is a landmark achievement in China's long-term push for renewable energy alternatives, signaling a new breakthrough in the country's green and low-carbon transition," Xing said.

The NEA said the nation's expansion of renewable energy continued at a rapid pace. As of end-June, the combined installed capacity of wind and solar power reached 1.95 billion kilowatts, up 16.8 percent year-on-year.

Renewable energy generation surpassed 40 percent of total January-June output, producing nearly 2 trillion kWh of clean electricity, up about 9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 41.2 percent of the country's total power generation, it said.

Xing said that despite navigating complex global headwinds, China's energy security and effective investments continue to see robust advances.

Investment in new energy storage surged 74.3 percent year-on-year in the first half, while funding for the hydrogen sector skyrocketed by over 160 percent.

On the other hand, investments in new power grid construction and charging infrastructure also rose 13.5 percent and 21.8 percent, respectively, providing solid macroeconomic support, Xing said.

The nation's renewable capacity is expanding at an unprecedented scale, with its total installed power generation capacity breaking the 4-billion-kW mark, achieving a scale that far outstrips the rest of the world's major economies.

Of this, renewable sources account for 2.45 billion kW, or 60.7 percent of the total. During the first six months, China added 117 million kW of renewable capacity, accounting for nearly 74 percent of all newly installed power capacity. Notably, total solar power capacity reached 1.27 billion kW, putting it virtually on par with the country's coal-fired capacity.

China's domestic momentum is also driving global decarbonization.

The International Renewable Energy Agency said that over the past 10 years, the average cost of electricity globally for wind and solar projects plummeted by over 60 percent and 80 percent, respectively. Experts widely attribute this massive cost reduction to China's continuous technological innovation, unrivaled manufacturing scale and highly efficient supply chains.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said that China's green and low-carbon transformation serves as both a vital cornerstone for its high-quality domestic development and a landmark contribution to global sustainability.

"Crossing the 50 percent threshold for coal generation is a watershed moment. It proves that our new energy system is rapidly maturing, moving from a supplementary role to the primary driving force of national power supply," Lin said.

"As grid flexibility improves and new energy storage scales up at a record pace, variable renewables will be able to take on an even larger share of the baseload," he added.