The annual clean energy data report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency introduces and analyzes the development of the global photovoltaic market. In the report released this year, many figures have not changed from previous data, especially in the off-grid PV market. An off-grid photovoltaic system refers to a photovoltaic system that operates independently and is not connected to the grid.
Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said: “While global trends are encouraging…the energy transition is not fast enough and not widespread enough to avoid the dire consequences of climate change.”
The latest annual clean energy statistics released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) show that the development of the off-grid photovoltaic market has stalled since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020.
Most of the world’s countries that own and operate off-grid PV systems had the same installed capacity at the end of December as they did in 2020, according to the agency’s 2022 Renewable Energy Capacity Statistical Report.
Bangladesh and Myanmar saw a drop in the installed capacity of connected off-grid PV systems last year. The installed capacity of photovoltaic systems connected to the grid in Bangladesh was 139MW last year, a decrease of 16MW compared to the previous year; while Myanmar also fell from 44.5MW to 40.4MW. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), Myanmar’s grid-connected PV systems fell by 4MW last year compared with the previous year, and only had 80MW of grid-connected PV systems by the end of last year.
Last year, Lebanon in the Middle East only installed a 10kW off-grid photovoltaic system, Fiji in Oceania installed a 33kW off-grid photovoltaic system, and Ecuador in South America installed a 23kW off-grid photovoltaic system.
However, while much of the off-grid PV market in Africa remains stagnant, independently installed PV capacity has grown rapidly to 49.5MW in Mali from 19.5MW last year, while in Somalia from 15.5MW to 23.5MW.
Global grid-connected photovoltaic market development
According to the study, the global installed capacity of grid-connected PV systems maintained strong growth last year, with China adding nearly 53GW to a cumulative total of 306GW; India added 10.3GW to a cumulative total of 49GW; the United States added nearly 20GW to a cumulative total of 93.7GW.
EU member states installed 21.4GW of PV systems last year, with Germany leading the way among EU member states, adding more than 4.7GW to a cumulative total of 58.5GW. Other hot markets include Belgium, which added more than 1GW to 6.59GW cumulatively; the Netherlands, which added nearly 3.3GW to 14.2GW cumulatively; Poland, which increased from 3.96GW in 2020 to 6.26GW last year; and Portugal, which increased from 1.1GW in 2020 to 6.26GW last year. 1.8GW last year; Spain increased from 10.3GW in 2020 to 13.6GW last year.
Estonia, Ireland and Moldova also made significant progress in installing grid-connected PV systems, although their baselines were lower, the Czech Republic and Slovenia saw fewer PV systems installed last year, with the Czech Republic falling back from 2,123MW in 2020 to 2,119MW in 2021 MW, while Slovenia dropped from 370MW in 2020 to 367MW in 2021.
While Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Togo and Zimbabwe all made progress in installing PV systems in 2021, 298MW of PV systems were integrated into the African grid during the year Among them, South Africa accounted for 231MW.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Kazakhstan will be the fastest growing country in Asia’s PV market in 2021, with grid-connected PV systems increasing to 2.83GW from 1.72GW in 2020. The PV markets in Brunei, Cambodia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Uzbekistan have also seen some progress – with grid-connected PV systems installed in these countries increasing from 4MW in 2020 to 104MW. However, Vietnam’s interesting PV market appears to have stalled, with the country’s PV market seeing no increase in installed PV system capacity compared to the previous year after surging from 8MW five years ago to 16.7GW in 2020.
Breakthrough in Nicaragua’s PV market
The installed capacity of grid-connected PV systems installed in Panama nearly doubled last year, from 242MW to 465MW. Central America, where Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are located, also saw notable increases. Nicaragua installed a 1MW PV system, although the International Renewable Energy Agency previously recorded a possible installation of a 500kW PV system.
According to statistics, installed PV systems in Turkey increased from 6.67GW the year before to 7.82GW last year, and Armenia almost doubled its installed PV system capacity from 95MW to 183MW. Likewise, of the 1,736MW of PV systems installed in Oceania, Australia has 1,732MW and New Zealand has 4MW. Saudi Arabia increased from 59MW in the previous year to 389MW last year, which is a photovoltaic market of concern in the Middle East.
Development of the Brazilian PV market
Brazil added 5GW of PV systems last year, bringing the total to 13GW. Photovoltaic systems installed in Colombia doubled last year from 86MW to 184MW, while the PV markets in Argentina and Chile are also recovering.
The International Renewable Energy Agency pointed out that there are still more than a dozen countries and regions in the world that have not installed grid-connected photovoltaic systems, such as the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Lesotho, Sao Tome and Principe in Africa; the British Virgin in the Caribbean Islands, St. Barts and Dominica, as well as Bhutan, Faroe Islands, Malvinas/Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Greenland.
Turkey, currently the largest solar panel manufacturer in Europe and the fourth largest in the world, aims to be in the top three globally next year.
While the manufacturing industry is developing rapidly, other aspects of the local photovoltaic industry have also ushered in many changes.
