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Shining a light on solar capacity factors
2/4/2025
8 min read
Feature
By 2029 solar PV is on course to be the largest source of renewable generation worldwide. But that does not mean all solar panels are as effective in generating power as others. Claire Cortis, Digital Knowledge and Information Manager at the Energy Institute, compares solar capacity factors of the top 20 solar PV generating countries and looks at the technologies being developed that could improve them.
The global capacity of solar PV is growing at a record pace, driven by supportive government policies such as subsidies and feed-in tariffs and decreasing costs due to advancements in technology. Between 2010 and 2020 solar module prices fell by up to 93%, making them the cheapest form of electricity and nearly a third cheaper than electricity generated from fossil fuels.
According to the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2024 there was a 32.4% increase worldwide in installed solar PV and a 24.3% increase in solar PV generation worldwide from 2022–2023. Over half of installed solar PV was in China (609 GW), followed by the US (138 GW), India (73 GW), Japan (87 GW) and Germany (82 GW).
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) solar PV is predicted to account for 80% of growth in global renewable capacity between 2024 and 2030.