China's mass rollout of solar PV panels has propelled it to first place in the global solar race, with industry data showing total solar capacity installed by the economic giant has overtaken the previous world leader Germany.
Installed solar capacity stood at 43GW by the end of 2015, according to China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) figures quoted today by the official state news agency Xinhua, with around 15GW new capacity installed during 2015.
China's National Energy Administration (NEA) predicts that the country's PV power capacity will hit 150GW by 2020, the agency reported.
Meanwhile, Germany's solar capacity now stands at around 40GW, according to data from the Federal Network Agency and Fraunhofer ISE reported by Reuters.
The new Chinese figures match estimates released on Monday by industry body PV Market Alliance, which also showed Japan had recorded around 10GW of new installations - up from 9GW in 2014.
Alongside the solar data, new preliminary figures on China's wind sector were also released today by the Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA), revealing that last year China installed a global record of 30.5GW of wind power - 20-30 per cent ahead of the most optimistic market forecasts.
Although the official figures won't be released by the Chinese government until next month, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said it expects them to match the estimates.
China now has an estimated 145GW of installed wind capacity - double the US total and treble the level of wind capacity in Germany. IEEFA said it expects China to install 24GW of wind power in 2016, alongside 16GW of new hydropower, 6GW of nuclear and 18-20GW of solar.
Elsewhere in the world, new solar capacity in the US grew from around 6GW in 2014 to 9.8GW in 2015 - a rise of more than 50 per cent, the PV Market Alliance said.
The European solar market also took a turn for the better: after three years of declining installations, new capacity rose from 7GW in 2014 to around 8.5GW in 2015, according to PV Market Alliance. The UK and Germany continued to drive the market, installing 4GW and 1.4GW respectively.
India meanwhile showed the strength of its growing solar market, installing 2GW in 2015, while the other countries in Asia - including Australia - installed a collective 2.5GW.
Data released last week by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) showed that renewable energy attracted a record $329bn investment in 2015, a four per cent rise on 2014 levels. The market was driven by surging investment in China, the US, Latin America and India, BNEF said.
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