China to rein in green growth for first time after record boom

After installing more wind and solar farms than anywhere else on the planet, China is ratcheting back the pace of growth in an industry that's helped lower the costs of green energy worldwide.

Installations of new wind and solar farms in China are expected to drop 11 percent in 2017 from a record high this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That would be the first decline in the history of the modern renewables business, now a little more than a decade old, for a nation that has provided about a third of the investment for the industry.

After five years of breakneck growth in the supply, China's electricity demand is stagnating along with a slowing in the nation's economic expansion. The Chinese government has started recalibrating subsidies for the business, a move that's likely to hit the industry's leading manufacturers, Xinjiang Goldwind Science& Technology Co and Trina Solar Ltd.