Top Solar Power Countries (Per Capita, Per GDP, Per TWh of Electricity Produced, & in Total)
Following up on my three posts last week on Top Wind Power Countries Relative to Electricity Production, Top Wind Power Countries Per Capita, and Top Wind Power Countries Per GDP, this post includes rankings of the top countries in the world for new solar PV power (in 2011) and total installed solar PV power (at the end of 2011) relative to country populations, electricity production, and GDP.
The solar power figures are based off of data from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association’s Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics until 2016 report just published in May. Country population, electricity production, and GDP statistics were retrieved from the same Wikipedia pages used for the wind power posts and rankings (i.e. they are the same numbers).
For 10 more charts (a bit prettier) from the Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics until 2016 report, check out: 10 Interesting Solar Power Graphics. Or, for much more information and depth on solar power in any of these countries, check out the EPIA report.
After the graphics and lists of the rankings, I add a little commentary on some of the leading countries (and one not-leading country).
Before getting to the rankings, I’ll just note that there may be some countries not included here that should be — I’m not aware of any in particular, but if you have 2011 solar installation data for a country that you think should be included and is not, send the data to me and I can update these charts and lists. (Note: I’m only including countries with over 1 MW of total installed solar power.)
Of course, solar is a fast-growing energy sector and there might be some big changes once 2012 numbers are in (e.g. India is sure to jump up a bit in the rankings). I’m already looking forward to doing this for 2012, but, unfortunately, that will have to wait another year or so.
On to the rankings, you say? OK, let’s go!
(Note: to enlarge any of the images, click on the image below, and then click on the image again on the next page and you can then zoom in and out from there.)
- Page 1: Top Solar Countries Per Capita (this page)
- Page 2: Top Solar Countries Relative to Electricity Production
- Page 3: Top Solar Countries Per GDP
- Page 4: Top Solar Countries in Absolute Installation Numbers
- Page 5: Commentary & Country Highlights
Top Solar Power Countries Per Capita
Total/Cumulative Solar Power per Capita (end of 2011):
Country — Total Installed Solar Power per Million People (MW):
- Germany — 301.470
- Italy — 214.480
- Czech Rep. — 186.497
- Belgium — 184.271
- Spain — 95.268
- Slovakia — 85.945
- Luxembourg — 58.617
- Greece — 58.493
- Australia — 56.622
- France — 40.689
- Slovenia — 39.372
- Japan — 38.508
- Malta — 28.734
- Switzerland — 27.161
- Israel — 24.875
- Austria — 20.821
- Bulgaria — 18.331
- Portugal — 17.422
- Canada — 16.170
- South Korea — 15.521
- UK — 14.054
- USA — 13.973
- Cyprus — 10.728
- Netherlands — 6.154
- Taiwan — 4.388
- Ukraine — 4.163
- Denmark — 2.865
- China — 2.296
- Sweden — 1.580
- Ireland — 0.654
- Hungary — 0.402
- India — 0.381
- Mexico — 0.356
- Brazil — 0.166
- Romania — 0.158
- Turkey — 0.080
- Poland — 0.078
New Solar Power per Capita (2011):
Country — Total New Solar Power per Million People (MW):
- Italy — 156.126
- Germany — 91.438
- Belgium — 88.939
- Slovakia — 58.950
- Greece — 39.489
- Australia — 33.764
- France — 25.570
- Malta — 23.945
- Slovenia — 22.360
- Israel — 16.499
- Turkey — 14.945
- Bulgaria — 13.579
- Switzerland — 13.203
- UK — 12.592
- Canada — 10.454
- Japan — 10.156
- Luxembourg — 9.769
- Ukraine — 4.119
- Cyprus — 3.576
- South Korea — 1.894
- Denmark — 1.791
- China — 1.633
- Netherlands — 1.195
- Ireland — 0.654
- Czech Rep. — 0.571
- Taiwan — 0.332
- Portugal — 0.320
- Sweden — 0.316
- Hungary — 0.301
- India — 0.248
- USA — 0.169
- Spain — 0.124
- Austria — 0.106
- Romania — 0.105
- Mexico — 0.089
- Brazil — 0.026
- Poland — 0.026
- Page 1: Top Solar Countries Per Capita (this page)
- Page 2: Top Solar Countries Relative to Electricity Production
- Page 3: Top Solar Countries Per GDP
- Page 4: Top Solar Countries in Absolute Installation Numbers
- Page 5: Commentary & Country Highlights
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book
Our Latest EVObsession Video
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it!! So, we've decided to completely nix paywalls here at CleanTechnica. But...
Like other media companies, we need reader support! If you support us, please chip in a bit monthly to help our team write, edit, and publish 15 cleantech stories a day!
Thank you!
Advertisement
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book

Our Latest EVObsession Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
Pingback: 10 Solar Power Graphics
Great graph. Change the aspect ratio and become a great screen saver. Heat up the iron and it becomes a great t-shirt. Heat up the aspect of irony, and it becomes a strange revelation that the countries that are doing the most to prevent climate change will be the few who benefit from it. You see this most closely in the US, where the states that will be most impacted have shown the most hostility to any open discussion. This would indicate that a clinical sort of denial is at play and is probably aggravated by confusionists with an effective disinformation campaign.
Certainly 😀
Italy emerges to head the pack as a bit of dark horse.
yeah, didn’t realize it would beforehand…
Wow. UK is so far down the list, and yet I must have seen five solar roofs in just one small area today.
I has a national shame.
Had not large parts of the globe experienced a financial melt-down think of where we might be.
Spain would probably be stringing HVDC over the mountains to pump surplus power to France.
Greece and Italy would likely be shipping solar-electricity northward.
According to the data of the Spanish grid operator REE, Spain should be in 3rd place with a total of 4936 MW of solar power (3937 PV, 999 solar thermal)
Source: http://www.ree.es/sistema_electrico/pdf/boletin_mensual/peninsular/dic2011_v2.pdf
According to the data of the Spanish grid operator REE, Spain should be in 3rd place with a total of 4936 MW of solar power (3937 PV, 999 solar thermal)
Source: http://www.ree.es/sistema_electrico/pdf/boletin_mensual/peninsular/dic2011_v2.pdf
Yeah, as noted in the piece, CSP is not included here.
My bad. But then 4400 MW is too much. Where did the extra 463 MW come from?
this is the number provided by EPIA: http://files.epia.org/files/Global-Market-Outlook-2016.pdf
The top image on P.2 is labeled “Total Installed Wind Power”
Comparing MW of solar capacity to TW-h of total electricity production doesn’t seem useful. Why not compare the GW-h of solar?
Thanks, I thought I switched all of those.
Because I don’t see data on GWh anywhere. And capacity relative to electricity generation is better than nothing.
Fantastic interesting info. Minor point from a visualising and simplifying POV, MW per million people is a little odd, watts per person to me seems easier to visualise, the numbers of course don’t change only the labels.
guess i just think in MW more than watts 😀
Considering that PV panels are a brain child of the US it’s embarrassing, to say the least, to be so far down on the list. With our political-economic system controlled by those who seek to exploit the last drop of oil it’s no surprise, but shameful none the less. Truly disheartening.
Ed
I know. More than embarrassing. It’s sad to say, but I’m afraid the US has lost what made it great. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take forever to get that back.
Going to include your quote in a piece I’m about to write up right now.
Pingback: GOP Leaders’ Current Tactic: Call the Majority of Americans Extremists - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Summer Solstice Solar Survey: Consumers Around the World Think Their Country Has the Most Solar Power Installed - CleanTechnica
Pingback: $2.24/Watt vs $4.44/Watt: Solar in Germany vs Solar in the US - CleanTechnica
Pingback: German Solar Installations Priced at $2.24 per Watt (US Solar at $4.44 per Watt) | Planetsave
Pingback: Japan Creates Potential $9.6 billion Solar Boom with FITs
Pingback: Vaginas, Stonehenge, and GMOs – Link Party #19
Pingback: From Preserving Food to Angry Cartoon Vaginas: Important Media Link Party
Good stuff Zach – what’s the source for these figures?
Thanks. The sources vary. See the 2nd paragraph at the top.
Pingback: Germany Sets a New Solar Power Record - 14.7 TWh in 6 months - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Germany sets a new solar power record - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy
Using three decimals in the tabled figures is confusing. Uninformed people stumbling into this article might take the decimal point for a thousands separator. In fact, the world champion, Germany, has 300 Watts installed solar power per capita.
hmm, i thought 2 decimals would look like a $ amt. also, for those (like me) who would like a little more detail, i went with 3.
the good thing, actually, is that if the decimal were a comma it would be per Watt 😀
Pingback: Green Roofs & Solar Panels: The Future of Renewable Energy? - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Italy's Solar Power Production Passes Its Wind Power Production! - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Who's Going Solar? 10 of the US' Largest Companies (New List: Top 10 Commercial Solar Users) - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Solar Much Cheaper in Germany than US for 1 Clear Reason -- Soft Costs - CleanTechnica
Pingback: German Solar Power Capacity Hits All-Time High...Again - CleanTechnica
Pingback: Solar & Wind Energy Overview −Solar Love!