New data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) shows a record 12 GW of solar capacity was installed in 2013, exceeding even the most optimistic previous market forecasts.
A rush to cash in on China’s CNY 1 (AU 0.18) feed-in tariff for large photovoltaic projects, ending January 1, may have pushed this figure closer to 14 GW, according to Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at BNEF.
“The 2013 figures show the astonishing scale of the Chinese market, now the sleeping dragon has awoken. PV is becoming ever cheaper and simpler to install, and China’s government has been as surprised as European governments by how quickly it can be deployed in response to incentives.”
China’s state-owned power companies were the main drivers of growth during 2013, building massive utility-scale solar power plants in desert provinces in the country’s west. This activity has lead to the China Power Investment Corporation, China Three Gorges and China Huadian Corporation becoming the world’s largest owners of solar assets.
China expects to install a further 14 GW of solar capacity in 2014. The end of subsidies for large-scale solar this year will see a move away from the transmission grid-connection projects that dominated the market in 2013 to rooftop solar panels connected to the distribution grid. The Chinese government aims to have at least 60 percent of all solar capacity in 2014 to come from rooftop installations.
The BNEF report estimates the global PV market in 2013 at a healthy 39 GW, up 28 percent on 2012 figures, with a further growth of 20 percent this year. China continues to lead the world in terms of newly installed solar capacity, followed Japan and the USA, with Germany (which BNEF notes was once the heaviest investor in solar power) in fourth position.
