A new annual record for new utility-scale
installations – almost 35 gigawatts – was set in 2016 according to
figures released on March 2nd, 2017 by Wiki-Solar.org. This took cumulative installations close to the 100 GW milestone.
North America up 129%, Europe down by over 50%
At the continental level, results were more patchy.
North America was up 129% on 2015, thanks to a mammoth December in the
USA, when almost 3 GW of new capacity was registered in just one month.
Asia again accounted for about 2/3 of the new capacity with 57% growth,
as India joins China amongst the top utility-scale markets. Europe, by
contrast, was down by over 50% as its last major market, the UK, was hit
by adverse government action. Africa and South America both grew by
over 200%; Australasia stayed level, while promising more in the future.
“We thought we might just make the cumulative 100 GW
milestone, when we saw the Chinese, American and Indian figures come
in”, says Wiki-Solar founder Philip Wolfe, “but in the end the global
total finished the year just short, at 96 GW. So expect to break through
the magic 100 GW milestone any day now – probably when this month’s
figures are in.”
PV market in 2017 harder to predict
Wolfe believes we could be heading for yet another
record year in 2017, but says it is getting harder to predict. “The
pipeline still looks strong, especially in India and Chile, while Brazil
and Australia should soon be delivering more new capacity. But the
demise of the European market is disappointing, and we have to hope that
the U.S. remains buoyant after the change of federal administration.”
These results are based on data published by the end
of February 2017. Wiki-Solar notes that the figures tend to creep
further upwards as later information is published, but does not expect
the cumulative total to break 100 GW until 2017, because data for the
three main markets of China, the USA and India is already in.
source:http://www.solarserver.com
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