New record for photovoltaic additions in China
In 2021, photovoltaic additions in China reached a new record level of 54.88 gigawatts. In total, the country's installed photovoltaic capacity now amounts to 306 gigawatts. By comparison, in Germany it amounted to about 59 gigawatts in 2021. In China, photovoltaics now account for 13 percent of national power generation capacity. Residential demand, which accounted for 40 percent of total additions in 2021, grew 113 percent. National incentives contributed to this rising demand. Commercial and industrial rooftop installations reached an addition of 7.68 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity.
Experts estimate that PV additions in China could exceed 80 gigawatts this year, another huge 45 percent increase. "Taking into account current policy targets, project backlogs and newly approved projects, 2022 could be the year that PV surpasses both hydropower and wind power in terms of cumulative installations," said Frank Haugwitz of consulting firm AECEA. (pv-magazine, March 17th 2022)
Among the renewable energy sources in China, hydropower with 390 gigawatts and wind power with 328 gigawatts of cumulative installed capacity are currently ahead of photovoltaics with 306 gigawatts capacity.
In addition, solar modules with a total output of 100.55 gigawatts were exported abroad in 2021 – this corresponds to an increase of 27 percent compared to the previous year. 45.3 gigawatts of solar modules alone were exported to Europe, which is thus by far the largest foreign market for Chinese module manufacturers.
Sources
pv-magazine, article by Sandra Enkhardt (3/17/2022):
https://www.pv-magazine.de/2022/03/17/aecea-china-koennte-bis-zu-90-gigawatt-photovoltaik-2022-zubauen/, accessed: 3/19/2022 at 6 p.m.
pv-magazine, article by Sandra Enkhardt (1/31/2022):
https://www.pv-magazine.de/2022/01/31/photovoltaik-zubau-in-deutschland-2021-brutto-bei-52632-megawatt/, accessed: 3/21/2022 at 12:30 p.m.