In 2022, solar photovoltaic accounted for 44% of China's newly added power generation capacity.

The growth of solar power generation is enormous worldwide, but in terms of sheer volume of expansion, China is undoubtedly the leader. In 2022, China installed 96.6 GW of solar generation capacity, accounting for 42% of the global total (231 GW).

Moreover, this also represents significant growth for the country. Solar photovoltaic installations increased by 57% compared to 2021.

In terms of cumulative solar deployment, China's installed solar photovoltaic capacity stands at 462 GW, representing 37.5% of the global total of 1,233 GW. This not only reflects an incredible share of the global solar market, but also indicates that China's share of the world's total capacity has been steadily increasing.

But another thing caught our attention, possibly the most exciting aspect of China's solar market. This figure made headlines: in 2022, 44% of China's newly added power generation capacity came from solar photovoltaics. When combined with wind power, these two renewable sources together accounted for 64% of China's total新增 power capacity. This marks the seventh consecutive year that solar and wind have led China's新增 power capacity additions. Meanwhile, coal and fossil gas recorded their worst performance in over a decade.

Last year, China added 96.6 GW of new solar power capacity, breaking records once again. In terms of national total installed capacity, solar power reached as high as 15% (462 GWdc / 378 GWac). A report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States shows how China's renewable energy market has changed over the past 11 years:

In 2011, renewables accounted for 26% of the total capacity of 1.1 TW. By 2022, renewables made up 45% of the total capacity of 2.5 TW.

Looking at how the new solar photovoltaic capacity is distributed, 61% came from distributed (primarily rooftop) photovoltaic systems, while 39% came from utility-scale solar PV plants. This marks the second consecutive year in China that distributed solar PV installations have surpassed those of utility-scale projects, partly in response to transmission bottlenecks faced by large-scale solar farms in more remote regions.

In terms of China's current total solar PV capacity, distributed solar now accounts for 40%.

"In 2022, the 50 GWac of distributed solar installed in China exceeded the total renewable energy capacity added by any other single country; in 2022, one out of every four solar modules installed globally was placed on a rooftop in China."