An average of more than 1GW a day of new solar is being installed around the world, according to forecasts from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, with China contributing at least half of that amount.
The BNEF numbers, shared on LinkedIn by Europe-based energy analyst Gerard Reid, forecast that China will install a whopping 208GW of solar this year, which Reid points out is more than the US has installed over the last 20 years.
The 200GW from China combines with 33GW forecast from the US, 16GW and 15GW by Brazil and India respectively, and 11GW by Germany and then single-digit GW figures from another 14 countries, ranging from around 8GW to around 2GW, to deliver an average of more than 1GW a day.
Australia sits somewhere in the middle, and is expected to install a total of nearly 5.5GW in 2023, according to BNEF, which would be a 16% jump on the amount installed in 2022.
“The good news,” writes Reid on LinkedIn, “is that solar installations will be higher in most countries across the world.
“Total demand for solar panels could be 400GW which would be 50% higher than in 2022!”
All the more reason, then, to get local supply chains up and running in Australia.