China plans to quadruple solar power-generating capacity by 2015

July 16, 2013
800px-Solar_hot_water_in_China

Solar hot water in Weihai, Shandong province, China (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

China has given a lift to the renewable energy industry by formally setting out plans to more than quadruple its solar power-generating capacity to 35 gigawatts by 2015, Financial Times reports.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, said it hoped 10GW of capacity would be added annually over the next three years.

China has the world’s third-biggest installed capacity of solar power, with 8.3GW of solar photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2012, an 8 per cent share of global capacity according to industry figures. Germany is the leader with 32.4GW, nearly a third of worldwide capacity. Italy is second with 16.3GW while the US has 7.7GW.