China installed a total of 34.54 GW of new PV capacity in 2016. This is a revised figure from the earlier reported 34.24 GW (see China Added Over 34 GW Of PV In 2016). With this, solar power generation of 66.2 billion kWh in 2016 accounted for 1% of the total power generation in the country. The new installations took the total PV capacity of the country to 77.42 GW at the end of December 2016.
Out of the total installed capacity, PV power plants contribute 67.1 GW, the rest comes from distributed solar. The National Energy Administration (NEA) data shows that the largest capacity of 8.62 GW is installed in Xinjiang, followed by 6.86 GW in Gansu Province, 6.82 GW in Qinghai, 6.37 GW in Inner Mongolia, 5.46 GW in Jiangsu Province and 5.26 GW in Ningxia.
For 2016, Shandong Province added more solar power than any other Chinese regions – with 3.22 GW. Henan Province installed 2.44 GW, Anhui Province built 2.25 GW, and both Ningxia and Shanxi provinces connected 2.17 GW each.
In terms of distributed PV generation in 2016, the top provinces were Zhejiang with 860 MW, Shandong 750 MW, Jiangsu 530 MW and Anhui 460 MW. This segment saw a newly installed capacity of 4.24 GW, increasing by 200% from the newly installed capacity in 2015.
The country has recently adjusted its 2020 PV installation target to 110 GW, down from 150 GW set earlier.