The Asia Group: China Weathered the Hormuz Crisis with 1.4 TW of Renewables and Coal

China was the only Asian country to weather the Strait of Hormuz crisis without an internal energy crunch, thanks to 1.4 terawatts (TW) of renewable capacity in operation and its strategic coal reserves, according to a report by consulting firm The Asia Group published on June 30, 2026.

The strait closure, through which one-fifth of global LNG supply and more than 11 million barrels per day of Persian Gulf crude transit according to Wood Mackenzie, sent international energy prices soaring. While Japan, South Korea, and India faced fuel shortages, China absorbed the shock with two buffers: crude reserves that in January 2026 covered 104 days of imports, according to Columbia University analysis cited by The Guardian, and a power mix where solar and wind already account for 22% of generation, with domestic coal providing firm backup.

The report details that China installed 315 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity in 2025, more than half of all new solar deployed worldwide that year, and that Beijing targets 50% of its energy from non-fossil sources by 2030. In a prolonged disruption scenario, Wood Mackenzie projects Brent crude near $200 per barrel and Chinese growth slowing to 3% in 2026, a moderate contraction compared to the double-digit collapse forecast for Gulf economies. In Mexico, SENER's PRODESEN 2025-2039 projects new renewable capacity, battery storage, and combined-cycle plants (including projects on the Yucatan Peninsula) to diversify a grid where natural gas remains the dominant fuel.

The Hormuz crisis leaves a clear lesson for Latin America: diversifying the power mix with renewables is also an energy security tool. The next PRODESEN update and the progress of SEN transmission and storage projects will be the gauge of how quickly Mexico translates that lesson into infrastructure.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.