Global solar photovoltaic (PV) market is set to increase its installed capacity from around 225 GW in 2015 to 294.69 GW in 2016, according to the latest release from GlobalData.
China is leading the market, with 15.13 GW of new installed PV capacity in 2015, and cumulative capacity reaching 43.48 GW by the end of 2015. The country’s PV installed capacity has increased around 13-fold since 2011.
In the first quarter of 2016, China added a total of 7.14 GW of PV capacity, of which 6.17 GW accounted for solar PV power plants, and 970 Megawatts (MW) for distributed PV.
China’s solar installation can be attributed to the country’s efforts to boost green energy and adjust the energy mix dominated by coal, said Ankit Mathur, GlobalData’s practice head covering Power.
“In the first half of 2016, a rush of solar PV installations was witnessed, as PV power projects which were connected to the electricity grid prior to June 30, 2016 will be entitled to reap benefits from higher 2015 solar feed-in tariffs (FiTs),” Mathur said.
China’s 13th Five Year Plan (FYP) sets the 2020 solar PV target at 150-200 GW, and aims to shift focus from scale expansion towards quality and efficiency. The FYP also intends to attain a non-fossil fuel renewable energy consumption of around 15% by 2020 and 20% by 2030.
Mathur adds, “The new solar PV installation tariffs and distributed PV electricity price subsidy standards will reduce gradually over time in order to promote scientific and technological development and efficiency, and improve the market competitiveness of PV power generation.”