China becomes 2013 solar leader with 12 GW of installed PV

Aug 11, 2014 - China emerged as the top market for photovoltaics (PV) with 12 GW of new capacity added in 2013 out of a total 38.7 GW worldwide, according to a report by Chinese firm Hanergy and the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce (CNECC).

In their Global Renewable Energy Report 2014 published on Sunday, the organisations said that the global solar market was moving from Europe to Asia as China boosted its capacity by 232% on the year. Germany installed a mere 3.3 GW of PV plants, down 56.5%, Italy recorded a similar decline, of 55% to 1.6 GW. The drop in the two countries was a result of policy uncertainties that will also affect 2014 PV additions. This year, Germany and Italy are seen to build 3 GW and 1.1 GW of solar parks.

According to initial estimates, China will add 14 GW of solar capacity in 2014, including 8 GW of distributed and 6 GW of gound-mounted plants.

The global cumulative installed solar capacity reached 140.6 GW in 2013, rising from 101.9 GW a year earlier.

The production of solar cells went up by 20% to 4 GW last year, on the back of expanded capacity, technological advances and market diversification.

Renewable energy facilities across the world boosted their output by 13% annually and were responsible for 5.2% of the world’s total power production of 22,513.8 TWh in 2013. By comparison, global power generation grew by 4.3%.

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