At the end of March 2023, China had an aggregate installed solar PV capacity of 425.2 GW led by centralized installations of 248.89 GW, and distributed segment contributing another 176.32 GW, according to the country's National Energy Administration (NEA).
This includes 33.66 GW the country installed in Q1/2023, as the NEA announced earlier in April 2023 pegging the aggregate at 430 GW (see 155% YoY Increase In China's Q1 Solar Installations).
Additions in Q1/2023 came from 15.52 GW utility scale solar, 9.21 GW commercial and industrial (C&I) and the remaining 8.92 GW from residential PV segments.
The top 3 regions with the largest amount of installed capacity during the quarter were Henan with 3.29 GW, followed by Hubei with 2.84 GW and Shandong with 2.81 GW.
On cumulative basis, Shandong leads with 45.5 GW, followed by 40.1 GW in Hebei and 27.6 GW in Jiangsu.
China's appetite for solar is forecast to grow significantly this year, possibly exceeding 100 GW annual installation mark for the 1st time after exiting 2022 with 87.41 GW. Official target for 2023 is to install 160 GW wind and solar capacity as it accelerates efforts to meet the 1.2 TW wind and solar goal for 2030 (see NEA Releases 2023 Energy Roadmap).