The number of countries with theoretical penetration rates above 10% doubles from last year to 18 countries. Greece is even among the pioneers, along with Spain, the Netherlands, Chile, while Germany and Japan also exceeded 10%.
The increase in the cumulative capacity of photovoltaics worldwide continues by leaps and bounds. According to the recent IEA report within 2023 it increased to 1.6 TW in 2023.
The leader in PV installations is China, where they jumped to a record 235 GWDC (or even up to 277 GW2) or more than 60% of new global power reaching 662 GW of cumulative power. The annual capacity exceeded 15% of the total global cumulative capacity and is almost equivalent to the second largest cumulative capacity: Europe. This represents a more than doubling of annual installed capacity, from 105.5 GW in 2023 and 54.9 GW in 2021.
The market growth outside China reached 30%, while China’s domestic growth was over 120%, which explains the enormous growth of the PV market. The number of countries with theoretical penetration rates above 10% doubles from last year to 18 countries. Greece is even among the pioneers, along with Spain, the Netherlands, Chile, while Germany and Japan also exceeded 10%.
At the same time, as mentioned in the report, batteries can play a key role in RES. Within fifteen years battery costs have fallen by more than 90%, one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies.
In 2023 alone, battery deployment in the energy sector increased by more than 130% year-on-year, adding a total of 42 gigawatts (GW) to electricity systems worldwide. In the transport sector, batteries have allowed sales of electric cars to increase from 3 million in 2020 to almost 14 million last year, with further strong growth expected in the coming years.
“The electricity and transport sectors are two key pillars for reducing emissions fast enough to meet the targets agreed at COP28 and keep the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5°C,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Batteries will be the foundation of both sectors, playing an invaluable role in scaling up renewable energy and electrifying transport, while providing secure and sustainable energy for businesses and households. The combination of solar PV and batteries is currently competitive with new coal plants in India. And in just the next few years, it will be cheaper than new coal in China and gas-fired electricity in the United States. Batteries are changing the game before our eyes.”
