To address the aforementioned gaps, we present an integrated framework combining diverse data sources including RS, GIS, and material intensity databases, to perform high-resolution spatiotemporal mapping of material stock in China's solar power plants from 2010 to 2019 at the solar power plant level.
He and Kammen evaluated the provincial level technical potential of solar PV in China by using solar radiation data from 200 representative locations. It was estimated that the installed capacity and annual generation potential in China were 4,700–39,300 GW and 6,900–70,100 TWh respectively.
China's installed centralized solar power plant capacity comprises over 60 % of the total installed capacity encompassing both centralized and distributed PV systems (National Energy Administration,2023).
As of at least 2024, China has one third of the world's installed solar panel capacity. Most of China's solar power is generated within its western provinces and is transferred to other regions of the country.
Theoretical solar PV capacity factors in China ranges between 13.78 % to 27.55 %; After capacity factors are converted to utilization hours, the national average theoretical utilization hours were 1647 hr, and the values of the seven provinces range between 1333 hr in Jiangxi to 1785 hr in Gansu.
As shown in , since 2013, China’s newly added distributed photovoltaic installed capacity have fluctuated upward, and reached 29.28 GW by 2021, accounting for 53.4% of the total, and exceeding the centralized photovoltaic system for the first time in history.