Solar power growth driven by emerging nations

According to the latest reports from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, emerging nations around the world could be responsible for most of the growth within the solar power industry. With China and India leading the way, these developing countries have prompted a significant boost in solar capacity, which expanded by no less than 33% during 2016 alone.

In 2016, China installed around 40% of the world’s new solar, and Brazil, Mexico, Jordan, Pakistan, and Chile all doubled their solar capacity in the same year. Overall, solar accounted for about 19% of all the new generating capacity established by emerging markets, but solar only accounts for about 1.3% of the global electricity generation in our market. The good news is that the exponential growth of solar power throughout the world is being driven by a combination of new national policies and the falling price of solar modules.

The Exponential Growth of the Solar World

Within the last ten years, we’ve seen significant growth in the solar energy market, thanks to falling hardware prices, and new commitments by governments around the world when it comes to reducing greenhouse emissions. While Japan, Europe, and the US initially led the way with their solar installations, the most growth in recent years has come from developing countries – with China leading the way.

Carbon Brief recently released new “Climate scope BNEF” information for emerging markets, with information from the Statistical Review of World Energy, to provide insights into the growth of solar in recent years. On average, the most growth comes from high-population countries like the US and China, and the UK currently has the 6th largest installed capacity of any country – which makes it larger than France, Spain, India, and Australia.

Though the popularity of solar panels in South Australia has continued to grow, the country overall has a long way to come before it catches up with some of the leaders. For instance. Germany currently has the largest installed solar base per person, with around 500 watts per person, followed by Japan at 337 watts. In comparison, Australia is currently at 228 watts per person.