The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21 Century (REN21) released its annual Renewables Global Status Report (GSR) on Wednesday, announcing good news for the renewable energy market.
Renewable energy continued to expand across the globe in 2013, increasing by more than 8% and meeting almost one-fifth of the world’s final energy consumption.
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While investment in PV declined nearly 22% relative to 2012, new installations increased by 32% during the year. Over 39MW of installed capacity were added last year for a total of approximately 139GW. Almost half of the world’s PV installed capacity has been installed over the past two years, while 98% has been installed since 2004.
For the first time ever, more PV than wind power was installed worldwide, accounting for around one-third of renewable energy capacity in 2013.
China, Japan and the United States were announced as the three leading countries in terms of solar PV installation in 2013. China made huge strides last year in terms of increasing their PV market, as the country represented one-third of all global capacity in 2013. Asia also surpassed Europe as the world’s biggest international market for solar PV.
While Europe still operates more PV facilities than any other region, with more than 80GW in operation by the end of 2013, the continent only added 11GW in capacity last year. Germany continues to hold the title of largest PV market in the EU, but fell from first to fourth in worldwide rankings with 3.3GW installed in 2013, a far cry from the 7.6GW that the country averaged over the previous three years.
The US led all countries in nstalled projects totaling over 50MW in 2013 with a capacity of 1.3GW, followed by Germany, China, India and Ukraine.
China-based Yingli and Trina Solar were the leading PV module manufacturers in 2013. Canadian Solar (Canada), Jinko Solar (China), ReneSola (China), Sharp Solar (Japan), Hanwha Solar One (China), Kyocera (Japan) and JA Solar (China) rounded out the top 10.
First unveiled in 2005, the GSR analyzes and reports on the progress of multiple markets regarding to the renewable energy sector. Policymakers and industry heads use the yearly report to make informed decisions regarding the renewable market.