The world's largest solar PV market, China continues to grow at an exceptional rate, and has reported over an 80% annual increase in installations during 2M/2024. The country added a combined 36.72 GW in the 2 months of January and February this year, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).
The new installations represent a 16.35 GW annual increase over the 20.37 GW the NEA reported for 2M/2023 (see China Installed Over 20 GW New Solar In First 2 Months Of 2023).
Solar PV contributed the lion's share of the 52.72 GW of new power generation capacity in the country during the 2 reporting months. The remaining came from wind energy's 9.89 GW, thermal power's 5.08 GW and hydropower's 1.03 GW capacity additions.
This remarkable growth follows the addition of 216.30 GW AC solar PV capacity in 2023. For 2024, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) forecasts a slowdown in annual growth citing land constraints and grid capacity challenges. The association expects China to exit this year with up to 220 GW AC annual PV additions (see Chinese Solar Industry To Get Bigger & Better In 2024).
However, the solar additions in January 2024 and February 2024 hint at a stronger year for China. Even in 2023, the accelerated pace of PV installations forced CPIA to change its guidance thrice during the year (see China To Exit 2023 With Up To 180 GW AC Solar PV).
On a cumulative basis, China's solar PV capacity now accounts for around 650 GW, with an annual increase of 56.9%, while the wind energy capacity rose by 21.3% to close to 450 GW. This means the country looks set to achieve its 1.2 TW combined wind and solar PV capacity target for 2030, 6 years early.
Gavin Mooney, the country manager of powercloud GmbH in Australia and a utilities and energy transition specialist, points out in a LinkedIn post that China set the 1.2 TW target in late 2020. Less than 4 years later, with 1.1 TW, it is almost there while the country's coal output declines.