Madhumitha Jaganmohan
Research expert covering climate and environmental sustainability
Get in touch with us nowWorldwide demand for solar photovoltaics outlook 2015-2024
In 2024, solar PV demand is expected to total 125.2 gigawatts around the world. The United States has started a process to implement taxes on solar products from China and Taiwan, which has initiated trade disputes around the world.
For several years, the growth of solar PV was mainly driven by Germany and other pioneering European countries. Cost of solar declined significantly due to improvements in technology and economies of scale when production of solar cells and modules began to ramp up around the world due to rising solar PV demand. As of 2018, China and the United States were the world’s leader in terms of newly installed solar PV capacity. China accounted for around 45 percent of the world’s total new installed grid-connected PV capacity, with United States and India ranked second at 11 percent each. Global cumulative installed solar PV capacity increased more than twofold between 2015 and 2018 to approximately 509,000 megawatts. China, the United States, Japan, and Germany were the most important markets for solar photovoltaic installations at the end of 2018.
Solar energy demand – additional information
Worldwide solar photovotalic (PV) power demand has been experiencing exponential growth in the last decade. During this period, PV evolved from a niche market of small scale applications to becoming one of the main renewable electricity sources. Solar photovoltaics systems today are recognized as a promising renewable energy technology. As of 2018, the largest solar PV power plants were predominantly from the India. The Bhadla Industrial Solar Park in India represented one the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 2.26 gigawatts.For several years, the growth of solar PV was mainly driven by Germany and other pioneering European countries. Cost of solar declined significantly due to improvements in technology and economies of scale when production of solar cells and modules began to ramp up around the world due to rising solar PV demand. As of 2018, China and the United States were the world’s leader in terms of newly installed solar PV capacity. China accounted for around 45 percent of the world’s total new installed grid-connected PV capacity, with United States and India ranked second at 11 percent each. Global cumulative installed solar PV capacity increased more than twofold between 2015 and 2018 to approximately 509,000 megawatts. China, the United States, Japan, and Germany were the most important markets for solar photovoltaic installations at the end of 2018.
