China can now make more solar power than the rest of the world. Data released by China’s National Agency last week revealed that the country’s solar electric power generation capacity grew by a staggering 55.2 percent in 2023. The numbers highlight over 216 gigawatts (GW) of solar power China built during the year.
According to the national energy administration (NEA), China added 217 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity in 2023, a figure which surpasses its previous record of 87GW in 2022 and exceeds the “entire solar fleet of 175GW in the US”, the news outlet adds.
The numbers highlight over 216 gigawatts (GW) of solar power China built during the year. When the Asian superpower set its energy targets in 2020, aiming to achieve peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, most dubbed it ambitious.
Wind and solar now account for 37% of the total power capacity in the country, an 8% increase from 2022, and widely expected to surpass coal capacity, which is 39% of the total right now, in 2024. Cumulative annual utility-scale solar & wind power capacity in China, in gigawatts (GW)
Most of China's solar power is generated within its western provinces and is transferred to other regions of the country. In 2011, China owned the largest solar power plant in the world at the time, the Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park, which had a photovoltaic capacity of 200 MW.
A floating solar farm in Huainan, China. China installed more solar panels in 2023 than any other nation has built in total, adding to a massive renewable energy fleet that’s already leading the world by a wide margin.
OverviewHistorySolar resourcesSolar photovoltaicsConcentrated solar powerSolar water heatingEffects on the global solar power industryGovernment incentives
China is the largest market in the world for both photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. China''s photovoltaic industry began by making panels for satellites, and transitioned to the manufacture of domestic panels in the late 1990s. After substantial government incentives were introduced in 2011, China''s solar power market grew dramatically: the country became the world''s leading installer of photovoltaics