China installed 48.2GW of solar in 2020, official figures show

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A floating solar install in China's Guangxi Province. Image: Sungrow.

Official figures from China’s National Energy Administration reveal more than 48GW of solar PV was installed in the country last year.

The figures, released today (20 January 2021), state that new capacity from all renewables sources – including both solar and wind – topped 190GW, of which solar contributed 48.2GW. Around 72GW of wind and 13.2GW of hydropower was also installed.

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The data also points to a significant rush of new solar installs in December 2020, with as much as 23.3GW of new solar installed in that month alone.

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