China has set a target for installed solar power generating capacity to reach 15 gigawatts by 2015 and wind power capacity to hit 100 GW, China National Radio reported, citing an announcement from the National Energy Administration. The solar power capacity by 2015 to be 50 pct over previous plan from just earlier in 2011. Annual solar power output will reach 20 billion kilowatt hours by 2015 and wind power output 190 billion kWh.
The 15 GWp solar target would likely put China in 4th or 5th place in the world for solar power installations in 2015. Germany, Spain and likely Japan and the United States would have more solar power installations.
The earlier China energy plan was reported here
Targets disclosed early 2011 December, 2011 targets for 2015 Hydropower 250 260 Wind 90 100 Solar 5 15 Bio-energy 13 13 Geothermal N/A 0.1 Tidal wave N/A 0.01-0.02 Nuclear is targeted for 40 GW which is the equivalent of 200 GW of solar and 160 GW of wind. Higher capacity factor for nuclear.
The ambitious move may have been encouraged by a rapid increase in solar power installation in recent months after the government unified grid feed-in tariffs for solar projects for the first time in July, and offered a higher price for projects that would be put into operation before the year end
World Solar Power Installations in 2011
The list of top solar power installations by country in 2011
Top 6 solar countries in 2011 by new PV installations (in MW).
Source: IHS iSuppli Research, December 2011.
2011 Rank Location 2010 2011 Annual Percentage Growth 1 Italy 3,577 6,900 92.9% 2 Germany 7,408 5,923 -20.0% 3 United States 915 2,703 195.5% 4 China 537 1,726 221.4% 5 Japan 990 1,300 31.3% 6 France 719 963 34.0%
Wikipedia with solar power statistics by country at the end of 2010
Total photovoltaic peak power capacity (MWp) at the end of 2010 World 39,778 European Union 29,328 1. Germany 17,320 2. Spain 3,892 3. Japan 3,617 4. Italy 3,502 5. United States 2,519 6. Czech Republic 1,953 7. France 1,025 8. China 893
2011 Rank Location total installed 1 Germany 23,243 2 Italy 10,402 3 United States 5,222 4 Japan 4,917 5 Spain 4,400(e) 6 China 2,619 7 Czech Republic 2,300-2,600 (e) 8 France 1,988
2015 Rank Location Projected installed Solar (per Nextbigfuture) 1 Germany 45,000 2 Italy 18,000 (slower growth because of economic problems) 3 United States 17,000 4 Japan 16,000 (faster shift based on Fukushima reaction) 5 China 15,000 (increased solar target) 6 Spain 6,000 (slowdown because of economic problems)
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