Published on 31st January 2019
On January 18, the National Energy Administration of China released national power industry statistics. The country’s newly installed capacity of Solar PV in 2018 hit the figure 44.26 GW, down from 2017 (new installed capacity in 2017 - 52.88 GW).
Nationwide installed capacity of Solar PV reached 174 GW, a 34% increment from last year, and slightly less than the total installed Wind power capacity (184.2 GW, a 12% increase from last year).
Of the 44.26 GW newly installed capacity of Solar PV, 23.3 GW corresponds to utility-scale PV plants. The North-Eastern provinces led the way in newly installed capacity. The five leading provinces, Jiangsu, Hebei, Zhejiang, and Shandong each installed Solar PV capacity above 3 GW in 2018.
At the end of 2018, the country’s newly installed solar PV capacity of 44.26 GW brings solar power to 9.2% in total installed power capacity of 1,899 GW. At 60.2%, thermal power remains a dominant source for fulfilling China’s energy needs.
Total national power consumption increased from the previous year by 8.5%, reaching 6,844 TWh in 2018. China’s total PV generation made up 177.5 TWh, a 50% increment from last year.
While the cumulative installed Solar PV capacity hits 174.4 GW, there are about 27 Chinese provinces that have now at least 1 GW of installed capacity. Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hebei provinces top the list of total solar PV installed.