GlobalData Says China Will Lead Global Solar Installations In 2015

July 30th, 2015 by Joshua S Hill

China will lead the way for global installations of solar PV in 2015, according to GlobalData, with just over 17.6 GW.

In a report published towards the beginning of June, global research and consulting firm GlobalData revealed the results of its latest Global Solar Power Market report, which provided analysis of the global market in 2014, with forecasts through 2015. Based on data obtained from multiple sources, including in-house analysis, GlobalData predict that China will stay atop the global solar PV installation pile in 2015 with just over 17.6 GW of solar PV installed in 2015, an increase of approximately 7 GW over 2014.

That 17.6 GW makes up a sizeable percentage of the global market that GlobalData is expecting to near 43.8 GW by the end of the year, up from 2014’s 36.4 GW.

Commenting on the figures, GlobalData’s Practice Head for Power, Ankit Mathur, pointed out that China’s cumulative solar PV capacity reached just over 28 GW by the end of 2014, thanks to 10.6 GW installed that year.

“For 2015, the country had previously set a target of making 15 GW of solar PV additions, comprising 7 GW of distributed generation and 8 GW of ground-mounted capacity,” Mathur continued. “However, China has revised its annual target to 17.8 GW and is well on track to achieve this goal, given that about 5 GW of solar capacity was installed in Q1. These additions will allow the country to retain its world-leading status for annual solar PV additions.”

However, what is interesting is how these figures play with recent doubt cast on the legitimacy of China’s installation figures. Recent figures released by China’s National Energy Administration showed that China had installed 7.73 GW worth of new solar so far this year, but that 9% of it was left to sit idle due to congestion on the grid. There have been other concerns, such as the quality of the manufacturing for Chinese-made solar products, undermining the significant numbers put forward by Chinese officials when it comes time to display a quarters installation figures.

GlobalData seems to be focusing solely on installation figures, rather than connection to the grid or immediate usage — which is not a ridiculous methodology to take, considering that China’s situation falls into a relatively rare category of oversupply.









Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica member, supporter, or ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.

Sign up for our free daily newsletter or weekly newsletter to never miss a story.

Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest Cleantech Talk Episode