China Adds 160 Gigawatts in First 3 Quarters of 2024

It’s truly impossible to comprehend the scale of solar power deployment in China these days. When I saw how much solar power China had installed in the first 9 months of the year, I thought I must be reading something wrong. I checked a few times. But, indeed, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) reports that a shocking 160 gigawatts (GW) of new solar power capacity were added in the first three quarters of the year. 160 GW.

That’s an incomprehensible amount of power. Also noteworthy, and putting that total into some context, China hit cumulative solar power capacity of 770 GW in August. After years of installing tons of solar power, the first 9 months of the year accounted for a huge chunk of the total. Furthermore, that 770 GW total is a 48% increase year over year.

In September alone, China installed 20.9 GW of new solar power capacity, an increase of 27% month over month.

Wind power also grew a lot. It reached 480 GW of new power capacity, a 20% increase year over year.

Where will China and its renewable energy industries be in 5–10 years. Can solar and wind power capacity keep growing long term in China? We’ll see.