China Installed More Solar Projects in 2013 Than Any Country In Any Year

China ended 2013 by annihilating the solar energy record books, and it wasn't even close.
China's solar installations totaled more than that of any other country in any other year. China installed 12 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic (PV) projects, with a possibility of projects at the end of the year pushing that amount up to 14 GW, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
No other nation has ever installed more than 8 GW in a single year.
“The 2013 figures show the astonishing scale of the Chinese market, now the sleeping dragon has awoken” said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “PV is becoming ever cheaper and simpler to install, and China’s government has been as surprised as European governments by how quickly it can be deployed in response to incentives.”
Earth Techling estimates that the previous record year might have been Germany's 7.6 GW in 2012. By comparison, 2013 was also a record year for the U.S. solar energy industry with installations of about. 4.2 GW. Half of the world's solar demand in 2014 is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region.
Three of China’s state-owned power generators—China Power Investment Corp., China Three Gorges and China Huadian Corp.—are now the world’s largest owners of solar assets, following their nation's record year. The Chinese installations were mostly concentrated in sunny provinces like Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai, with 24, 18 and 17 percent of installations, respectively.
China's government is targeting 14 GW of additional PV capacity this year. Officials are aiming for at least 60 percent of this year’s installations to be rooftop projects, which connect to the distribution grid as opposed to the transmission grid. Projects on the transmission grid accounted for most of China’s solar market in 2013.
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California is bracing for rare January wildfires this week amid damaging Santa Ana winds coupled with unusually hot and dry winter weather.
High winds, gusting up to 80- to 90 miles per hour in some parts of the state, are expected to last through Wednesday evening. Nearly the entire state has been in a drought for months, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which, alongside summerlike temperatures, has left vegetation dry and flammable.
Utilities Southern California Edison and PG&E, which serves the central and northern portions of the state, warned it may preemptively shut off power to hundreds of thousands of customers to reduce the risk of electrical fires sparked by trees and branches falling on live power lines. The rare January fire conditions come on the heels of the worst wildfire season ever recorded in California, as climate change exacerbates the factors causing fires to be more frequent and severe.
California is also experiencing the most severe surge of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with hospitals and ICUs over capacity and a stay-at-home order in place. Wildfire smoke can increase the risk of adverse health effects due to COVID, and evacuations forcing people to crowd into shelters could further spread the virus.
As reported by AccuWeather:
In the atmosphere, air flows from high to low pressure. The setup into Wednesday is like having two giant atmospheric fans working as a team with one pulling and the other pushing the air in the same direction.
Normally, mountains to the north and east of Los Angeles would protect the downtown which sits in a basin. However, with the assistance of the offshore storm, there will be areas of gusty winds even in the L.A. Basin. The winds may get strong enough in parts of the basin to break tree limbs and lead to sporadic power outages and sparks that could ignite fires.
"Typically, Santa Ana winds stay out of downtown Los Angeles and the L.A. Basin, but this time, conditions may set up just right to bring 30- to 40-mph wind gusts even in those typically calm condition areas," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike Doll.
For a deeper dive:
AP, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Weather Channel, AccuWeather, New York Times, Slideshow: New York Times; Climate Signals Background: Wildfires, 2020 Western wildfire season
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