The emergence of unsubsidised projects is helping European companies to rise back up the list of the world’s top utility-scale solar project developers, according to the latest data by Wiki-Solar.org.
The developers with more than 1 GW alternating current (AC) of cumulative installed volume are listed in the following table.
| Rank |
Project developer |
Capacity to date (MW) |
Change since end-2018 (MW) |
| 1 |
First Solar (US) |
5,174 |
1,205 |
| 2 |
Canadian Solar (CA) |
4,118 |
259 |
| 3 |
NextEra Energy (US) |
3,408 |
1,216 |
| 4 |
SunEdison (US) |
3,123 |
257 |
| 5 |
Enel Green Power (IT) |
3,092 |
603 |
| 6 |
State Power Investment Corp (CN) |
3,025 |
221 |
| 7 |
ACME Solar (IN) |
2,806 |
730 |
| 8 |
Adani (IN) |
2,790 |
361 |
| 9 |
Engie (FR) |
2,167 |
906 |
| 10 |
Azure Power (IN) |
1,786 |
795 |
| 11 |
Tata Power (IN) |
1,733 |
549 |
| 12 |
Shunfeng (CN) |
1,532 |
|
| 13 |
Cypress Creek (US) |
1,503 |
209 |
| 14 |
Juwi (DE) |
1,463 |
545 |
| 15 |
Trina Solar (CN) |
1,357 |
840 |
| 16 |
China Three Gorges New Energy (CN) |
1,281 |
|
| 17 |
EDF Energies Nouvelles (FR) |
1,267 |
428 |
| 18 |
Scatec Solar (NO) |
1,256 |
622 |
| 19 |
Neoen (FR) |
1,256 |
552 |
| 20 |
Enerparc (DE) |
1,251 |
303 |
| 21 |
X-Elio (ES) |
1,235 |
742 |
| 22 |
Shell (NL) |
1,223 |
659 |
| 23 |
Abengoa Solar (ES) |
1,179 |
|
| 24 |
AES Corp (US) |
1,166 |
393 |
| 25 |
Softbank (JP) |
1,164 |
673 |
| 26 |
SunPower (US) |
1,145 |
101 |
| 27 |
JinkoSolar (CN) |
1,139 |
549 |
| 28 |
Hareon Solar (CN) |
1,112 |
25 |
| 29 |
Sempra Energy (US) |
1,090 |
264 |
| 30 |
ACWA Power (SA) |
1,088 |
300 |
| 31 |
Greenko Energy (IN) |
1,060 |
60 |
| 32 |
8minutenergy (US) |
1,047 |
244 |
| 33 |
China Sinhyes (CN) |
1,040 |
220 |
| 34 |
GCL-Poly Energy (HK) |
1,033 |
20 |
North American companies retain the four top spots, with NextEra Energy ranked #1 for installations since the beginning of 2019, and First Solar still top by cumulative installed capacity. The strength of India’s domestic market is underlined again by the four Indian companies in the top 11 places in the table.
Europhiles will be pleased to see Enel retaining its elevated position, and developers like Engie and Juwi climbing up the list. These companies had expanded their activities into emerging overseas markets, during the stagnation of the European solar market, but are now also pursuing post-subsidy project opportunities closer to home. In addition, Europe claims four of last year’s top five climbers – X-Elio, Shell, Scatec Solar and Neoen – joining Trina, which enters this list having started to develop its own projects in China.
Japan’s Softbank has also been a significant climber, thanks substantially to its activities through SB Energy in India.
These figures are always calculated from the bottom up – totalling the AC capacity of commissioned projects in which the listed companies are known to have been participants. Wiki-Solar seeks to check statistics with these top developers, but its database does not list the developer for every project, and therefore the totals shown may be understated. In particular, Chinese companies should doubtless be more prominent, and China should probably have more than the eight companies shown on this list.
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First Solar-powered PV park in California. Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
