China says it will pour 2.5 trillion yuan ($493 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has issued a blueprint that will see  the world's largest energy market continue to shift away from coal power.

The cost of building large-scale solar plants has dropped by around 40 per cent since 2010, and China is already the world's top solar generator.

It intends to create over 13 million jobs as it develops the nation's energy sector over five-years from 2016 to 2020.

The NEA said renewable power including wind, hydro and solar as well as nuclear power would provide half of new electricity generation by 2020.

The agency is light on details about where the funds — totalling $98 billion each year — will be spent.

It is the latest step in Beijing’s quest to curb the use of fossil fuels, as it risks losing the war against its own pollution.

China’s central economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has reportedly outlined about 1 trillion yuan of spending on solar.