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.
Researchers have shown that there is huge potential for China’s solar photovoltaic power development. But to what extent can this potential be realized, and the pathways to fill the gap between actual performance and technically available solar resources still require in-depth study.
In 2022, PV accounted for 70 % of total capacity additions of renewable power (348 GW), with China accounting for 44 % of global capacity (Sawin et al.,2022). PV still has significant potential for further development in China, particularly in regions abundant in solar energy resources like northwest China (Lin et al.,2022).
In 2002, China’s first domestic photovoltaic (PV) cell production line was put into operation, with 10MW of capacity. In 2004, China began exporting PV cells to Europe, taking advantage of the development of PV power generation in European countries, especially Germany.
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.
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.
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