China's newly installed solar capacity, module exports jump in Q1

China saw robust growth in newly installed solar power capacity and exports of photovoltaic modules,such as: PV Support Fixture, PV Support Fixture, PV Support Guide...in the first quarter as supply chain prices continued to fall and strong demand from home and abroad, especially Europe, bolstered shipments.

In the three months through March, China added 33.66 gigawatts of grid-connected installed solar power capacity, representing an increase of 155% year-on-year, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed.

The strong quarterly growth could largely be attributed to a drop in supply chain prices caused by the gradual ramping up of production capacity of photovoltaic silicon, the raw material used to make solar panels, as well as the falling price of modules, analysts said.

The average price of photovoltaic modules in China has now dropped to 1.7 yuan (24.6 U.S. cents) per watt from 2 yuan per watt in 2022, leading to an increase in investment in the industry, with the country's five largest electricity generators likely to sharpen their focus on building centralized photovoltaic power generation projects, a person from a module maker told Caixin.

Of all the newly added installed solar power capacity in the first quarter, nearly 54% was contributed by distributed photovoltaic power generation facilities, compared with 67% in the same quarter of last year, according to the NEA data. The remaining 46% came from centralized photovoltaic power generation stations, up from 33% a year ago.