China tops world’s solar market: report

The market has some 437GW of additional solar capacity between end-2020 and 2030.

China is the global outperformer in solar power with installed capacity projected to increase to 690 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2030, Fitch Solutions reported.

The country is forecasted to add 436.9GW of solar capacity by 2030, which will be on top of its 293GW installed solar capacity, as of end-2020. Overall, the market accounts for 42% of the global forecasted solar capacity growth.

“We expect growth within the sector will be increasingly driven by commercial and residential-scale solar systems, in addition to continued robust utility-scale solar growth,” the report read in part.

Fitch noted that in light of China’s projected solar capacity growth, the share of solar power in China’s power mix will increase to 7.5% by 2030 from the current 3.5%.

“Favourable government policy, particularly plans to increase mandates for distributed generation solar systems, present upside risks to our forecasts,” it added.

The National Energy Association of China has mandated the installation of solar power systems on residential, commercial, and government buildings. This initiative is estimated to add 130GW to 170GW of solar capacity within the end of 2023.

Fitch said the risk to solar project developments in the near-term may emerge from elevated prices in the solar value chain and disruptions to the global supply chain of raw materials for solar photovoltaic technology.

Despite this, the report sees China will remain the primary producer of solar power components in the coming decade.

China is followed by United States with a solar market expected to add some 151.3GW of solar capacity until 2030. This will bring its total installed capacity to 241.1GW by the end of the decade from 89.9GW.