Source:ember-climate.org
While gas and coal prices soared in 2022, the growth of solar power across China, India, Japan, South Korea, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Thailand helped avoid using costly fossil fuels.
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US$34 billion of fossil fuel costs avoided
The contribution of solar generation in seven key Asian countries – China, India, Japan, South Korea, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Thailand – avoided potential fossil fuel costs of approximately US$34 billion from January to June 2022. This is equal to 9% of total fossil fuel costs these countries incurred over the same period in 2022.
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Five Asian countries among top ten solar powered economies globally
A decade ago, only two countries in Asia made it to the list, while European countries dominated the top of the global solar capacity ranking. Since then, India, Viet Nam and South Korea have joined the top ten.
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Solar capacity is likely to grow at 22% per year
Solar power is expected to experience exponential growth at an average annual growth rate of 22% until 2030 across 5 key Asian economies (China, India, the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia).
Asia’s growing energy demand has often been framed through the lens of its coal, gas or nuclear dependence, but solar power is growing rapidly across the region. Over the last decade China, India, South Korea, Viet Nam and Japan have significantly increased the share of solar power in their respective energy mixes.
China began the decade with only 1 GW of solar power in 2010, and has increased this capacity to 307 GW by the end of 2021, including a record installation of 53 GW of new solar power that year. In 2022, China is expected to smash last year’s record, and it could add between 75 and 90 GW of new solar to the grid. If that happens, this single year roll out would come close to matching the total existing solar capacity across the US, 1.5 times that of Germany, and over four times that of Australia.
India has also seen incredible growth, increasing its share of solar capacity from 0.07 GW in 2010 to 50 GW in 2021. This has led to significant shifts in how much electricity is being generated by solar power each year.
Japan has long been a solar leader – consistently ranking in the top five for solar capacity globally in the past 11 years. However, its solar capacity still increased from 4 GW in 2010 – only 0.3% from total electricity generation – to 74 GW in 2021, generating 9% of its electricity.
While solar capacity has also grown in the Philippines and Thailand, the increase is marginal. Currently, solar power generates less than 3% of Thailand’s electricity and less than 2% of that in the Philippines.
However, solar power in Asia has the potential to grow rapidly over the next decade. According to existing national targets across the five major economies (China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan), we expect to see solar capacity across the region growing at an average of 22% per year until 2030.
This growth will be most pronounced in China, where solar capacity installations alone are expected to reach 1,200 GW by 2030. However, we also expect to see significant growth in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
This will require tailored national policy innovation, investments in energy storage and flexibility, and collective economic and technological cooperation on a grand scale.
