155% YoY Increase In China’s Q1 Solar Installations

• China has installed 33.66 GW new solar PV capacity in the initial 3 months of 2023
• It represents an annual growth of 33.7% or 20.45 GW over Q1/2022 when the additions were 13.21 GW
• On cumulative basis, its solar capacity increases to 430 GW out of 2.62 TW total power generation capacity of the country till March 2023-end

China exited Q1/2023 with a cumulative installed solar PV capacity of 430 GW, representing an annual growth of 33.7% thanks to the addition of 33.66 GW new capacity within the initial 3 months of 2023, says the country's National Energy Administration (NEA).

Since the country installed 20.37 GW within January 2023 and February 2023, in the month of March 2023 it is likely to have brought online 13.29 GW, making it the largest Q1 since 2019. It also means much stronger year-on-year growth over  Q1/2022: 20.45 GW more solar capacity was added in the first 3 months of this year (see China Installed Over 20 GW New Solar In First 2 Months Of 2023).

For solar power, China saw an investment worth RMB 52.2 billion ($7.55 billion) being made during the reporting quarter representing annual improvement of 177.6%.

In comparison, China installed 10.4 GW new wind power capacity (380 GW cumulative), and 8.05 GW thermal power. Cumulative deployed power generation capacity of the country at the end of March 2023 was 2.62 TW that went up by 9.1%.

The NEA targets to have 160 GW new solar PV and wind energy capacity installed in the country within 2023, according to its energy roadmap for the year. Considering this, within Q1/2023, China installed only 44.06 GW which means one can expect accelerated push towards meeting the annual target during remainder of the year (see NEA Releases 2023 Energy Roadmap).