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.
Jiangsu Province is renowned as one of China’s largest solar panel manufacturing hubs. Located on the east coast, it has the advantage of being near ports, which facilitates the ease of exporting solar panels. The province hosts a multitude of solar panel manufacturers in China, including Trina Solar, one of the world’s largest.
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.
Located in Datong City, Shanxi Province, it is the country's 3rd largest solar power plant. China's National Energy Administration aimed to install solar plants in this area. After successful completion of the project's 1st phase in 2016, this solar plant now has a total capacity of 1.1 gigawatts.
The tool shows China ground mounted solar facilities occupied a surface of 2,467.7 km2 at the end of December 2020. Scientists led by the China Agricultural University have created a national-scale map and dataset of ground-mounted PV power stations in China.
Eventually, we established a map of PV power plants in China by 2020, covering a total area of 2917 km2. Based on the derived national PV map, we found that most PV power plants were sited on cropland, followed by barren land and grassland. In addition, the installation of PV power plants has generally decreased the vegetation cover.