Chinese PV Industry Brief: China’s solar capacity rises to 1.11 TW by July
China’s installed power capacity hit 3.67 TW by July, with solar at 1.11 TW, wind at 570 GW, and renewables providing nearly one-quarter of generation.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: China adds 268 GW of renewables, led by solar
China installed 268 GW of new renewables capacity in the first half of 2025, nearly doubling year on year, with solar accounting for 212 GW of the total, says the nation’s energy planning agency.
China installs record 36 GW of rooftop solar in Q1 as new rules drive surge
China installed a record 60 GW of new PV capacity in the first quarter of 2025, driven by a surge in rooftop deployment ahead of updated grid-access rules, says Rystad Energy. It predicts that rooftop growth will continue, but new self-consumption mandates are reshaping regional development strategies and increasing project complexity.
Digging into China’s solar capacity numbers
Amid a record amount of new solar capacity added in China in 2024, the share held by small-scale, “distributed” arrays fell to 38%, from 58% in 2022. Grid constraints, policy changes, and pricing adjustments have impacted home and business solar arrays, as Vincent Shaw reports, from Shanghai.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: January-February solar additions hit 39.5 GW
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says that the country added 39.47 GW of new solar capacity in January and February, taking total installed PV capacity to 930 GW.
China hits 277.17 GW of new PV installations in 2024
China’s cumulative installed solar capacity hit 886.66 GW at the end of 2024, with 277.17 GW of new annual installations, up 45.48% year on year. The deployment surge exceeded forecasts, setting a new historical record for PV installations.
Grid shortages fuel China’s small-scale solar boom
Small-scale, “distributed” PV has become a significant part of the world’s biggest solar market but it is now butting up against the same grid constraints that have frustrated utility-scale PV in China and other parts of the world.
Weekend Read: Solar giants enter the storage market
Energy storage is the new solar for an increasing number of Chinese PV manufacturers. However, China still requires enabling policies for storage to provide the end-market volumes needed to bolster the fortunes of manufacturers old and new.
Weekend Read: Famine to feast – China’s solar market in 2023
China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, pv magazine looks back at key highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.
Solar dawn
Frank Haugwitz arrived in China in June 2002 as technical adviser to the solar-focused Sino-German Renewable Energies in Rural Areas Program. He has directly observed the nation’s rise to solar superpower status.
