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Mapped: Solar Power by Country in 2021

Electrification

Mapped: Solar Power by Country in 2021

Published

2 years ago

on

November 15, 2021

By

Govind Bhutada

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Solar Power by Country

Mapped: Solar Power by Country in 2021

The world is adopting renewable energy at an unprecedented pace, and solar power is leading the way.

Despite a 4.5% fall in global energy demand in 2020, renewable energy technologies showed promising progress. While the growth in renewables was strong across the board, solar power led from the front with 127 gigawatts installed in 2020, its largest-ever annual capacity expansion.

The above infographic uses data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to map solar power capacity by country in 2021. This includes both solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power capacity.

The Solar Power Leaderboard

From the Americas to Oceania, countries in virtually every continent (except Antarctica) added more solar to their mix last year. Here’s a snapshot of solar power capacity by country at the beginning of 2021:

Country	Installed capacity, megawatts	Watts* per capita	% of world total
China 🇨🇳	254,355	147	35.6%
U.S. 🇺🇸	75,572	231	10.6%
Japan 🇯🇵	67,000	498	9.4%
Germany 🇩🇪	53,783	593	7.5%
India 🇮🇳	39,211	32	5.5%
Italy 🇮🇹	21,600	345	3.0%
Australia 🇦🇺	17,627	637	2.5%
Vietnam 🇻🇳	16,504	60	2.3%
South Korea 🇰🇷	14,575	217	2.0%
Spain 🇪🇸	14,089	186	2.0%
United Kingdom 🇬🇧	13,563	200	1.9%
France 🇫🇷	11,733	148	1.6%
Netherlands 🇳🇱	10,213	396	1.4%
Brazil 🇧🇷	7,881	22	1.1%
Turkey 🇹🇷	6,668	73	0.9%
South Africa 🇿🇦	5,990	44	0.8%
Taiwan 🇹🇼	5,817	172	0.8%
Belgium 🇧🇪	5,646	394	0.8%
Mexico 🇲🇽	5,644	35	0.8%
Ukraine 🇺🇦	5,360	114	0.8%
Poland 🇵🇱	3,936	34	0.6%
Canada 🇨🇦	3,325	88	0.5%
Greece 🇬🇷	3,247	258	0.5%
Chile 🇨🇱	3,205	142	0.4%
Switzerland 🇨🇭	3,118	295	0.4%
Thailand 🇹🇭	2,988	43	0.4%
United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪	2,539	185	0.4%
Austria 🇦🇹	2,220	178	0.3%
Czech Republic 🇨🇿	2,073	194	0.3%
Hungary 🇭🇺	1,953	131	0.3%
Egypt 🇪🇬	1,694	17	0.2%
Malaysia 🇲🇾	1,493	28	0.2%
Israel 🇮🇱	1,439	134	0.2%
Russia 🇷🇺	1,428	7	0.2%
Sweden 🇸🇪	1,417	63	0.2%
Romania 🇷🇴	1,387	71	0.2%
Jordan 🇯🇴	1,359	100	0.2%
Denmark 🇩🇰	1,300	186	0.2%
Bulgaria 🇧🇬	1,073	152	0.2%
Philippines 🇵🇭	1,048	9	0.1%
Portugal 🇵🇹	1,025	81	0.1%
Argentina 🇦🇷	764	17	0.1%
Pakistan 🇵🇰	737	6	0.1%
Morocco 🇲🇦	734	6	0.1%
Slovakia 🇸🇰	593	87	0.1%
Honduras 🇭🇳	514	53	0.1%
Algeria 🇩🇿	448	10	0.1%
El Salvador 🇸🇻	429	66	0.1%
Iran 🇮🇷	414	5	0.1%
Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦	409	12	0.1%
Finland 🇫🇮	391	39	0.1%
Dominican Republic 🇩🇴	370	34	0.1%
Peru 🇵🇪	331	10	0.05%
Singapore 🇸🇬	329	45	0.05%
Bangladesh 🇧🇩	301	2	0.04%
Slovenia 🇸🇮	267	128	0.04%
Uruguay 🇺🇾	256	74	0.04%
Yemen 🇾🇪	253	8	0.04%
Iraq 🇮🇶	216	5	0.03%
Cambodia 🇰🇭	208	12	0.03%
Cyprus 🇨🇾	200	147	0.03%
Panama 🇵🇦	198	46	0.03%
Luxembourg 🇱🇺	195	244	0.03%
Malta 🇲🇹	184	312	0.03%
Indonesia 🇮🇩	172	1	0.02%
Cuba 🇨🇺	163	14	0.02%
Belarus 🇧🇾	159	17	0.02%
Senegal 🇸🇳	155	8	0.02%
Norway 🇳🇴	152	17	0.02%
Lithuania 🇱🇹	148	37	0.02%
Namibia 🇳🇦	145	55	0.02%
New Zealand 🇳🇿	142	29	0.02%
Estonia 🇪🇪	130	98	0.02%
Bolivia 🇧🇴	120	10	0.02%
Oman 🇴🇲	109	21	0.02%
Colombia 🇨🇴	107	2	0.01%
Kenya 🇰🇪	106	2	0.01%
Guatemala 🇬🇹	101	6	0.01%
Croatia 🇭🇷	85	17	0.01%
World total 🌎	713,970	83	100.0%

*1 megawatt = 1,000,000 watts.

China is the undisputed leader in solar installations, with over 35% of global capacity. What’s more, the country is showing no signs of slowing down. It has the world’s largest wind and solar project in the pipeline, which could add another 400,000MW to its clean energy capacity.

Following China from afar is the U.S., which recently surpassed 100,000MW of solar power capacity after installing another 50,000MW in the first three months of 2021. Annual solar growth in the U.S. has averaged an impressive 42% over the last decade. Policies like the solar investment tax credit, which offers a 26% tax credit on residential and commercial solar systems, have helped propel the industry forward.

Although Australia hosts a fraction of China’s solar capacity, it tops the per capita rankings due to its relatively low population of 26 million people. The Australian continent receives the highest amount of solar radiation of any continent, and over 30% of Australian households now have rooftop solar PV systems.

China: The Solar Champion

In 2020, President Xi Jinping stated that China aims to be carbon neutral by 2060, and the country is taking steps to get there.

China is a leader in the solar industry, and it seems to have cracked the code for the entire solar supply chain. In 2019, Chinese firms produced 66% of the world’s polysilicon, the initial building block of silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) panels. Furthermore, more than three-quarters of solar cells came from China, along with 72% of the world’s PV panels.

With that said, it’s no surprise that 5 of the world’s 10 largest solar parks are in China, and it will likely continue to build more as it transitions to carbon neutrality.

What’s Driving the Rush for Solar Power?

The energy transition is a major factor in the rise of renewables, but solar’s growth is partly due to how cheap it has become over time. Solar energy costs have fallen exponentially over the last decade, and it’s now the cheapest source of new energy generation.

Since 2010, the cost of solar power has seen a 85% decrease, down from $0.28 to $0.04 per kWh. According to MIT researchers, economies of scale have been the single-largest factor in continuing the cost decline for the last decade. In other words, as the world installed and made more solar panels, production became cheaper and more efficient.

This year, solar costs are rising due to supply chain issues, but the rise is likely to be temporary as bottlenecks resolve.

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Ranked: The Top 10 EV Battery Manufacturers in 2023

Asia dominates this ranking of the world’s largest EV battery manufacturers in 2023.

Published

15 hours ago

on

April 22, 2024

By

Bruno Venditti

The Top 10 EV Battery Manufacturers in 2023

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Despite efforts from the U.S. and EU to secure local domestic supply, all major EV battery manufacturers remain based in Asia.

In this graphic we rank the top 10 EV battery manufacturers by total battery deployment (measured in megawatt-hours) in 2023. The data is from EV Volumes.

Chinese Dominance

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) has swiftly risen in less than a decade to claim the title of the largest global battery group.

The Chinese company now has a 34% share of the market and supplies batteries to a range of made-in-China vehicles, including the Tesla Model Y, SAIC’s MG4/Mulan, and Li Auto models.

Company	Country	2023 Production (megawatt-hour)	Share of Total Production
CATL	🇨🇳China	242,700	34%
BYD	🇨🇳China	115,917	16%
LG Energy Solution	🇰🇷Korea	108,487	15%
Panasonic	🇯🇵Japan	56,560	8%
SK On	🇰🇷Korea	40,711	6%
Samsung SDI	🇰🇷Korea	35,703	5%
CALB	🇨🇳China	23,493	3%
Farasis Energy	🇨🇳China	16,527	2%
Envision AESC	🇨🇳China	8,342	1%
Sunwoda	🇨🇳China	6,979	1%
Other	-	56,040	8%

In 2023, BYD surpassed LG Energy Solution to claim second place. This was driven by demand from its own models and growth in third-party deals, including providing batteries for the made-in-Germany Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ3, Changan UNI-V, Venucia V-Online, as well as several Haval and FAW models.

The top three battery makers (CATL, BYD, LG) collectively account for two-thirds (66%) of total battery deployment.

Once a leader in the EV battery business, Panasonic now holds the fourth position with an 8% market share, down from 9% last year. With its main client, Tesla, now effectively sourcing batteries from multiple suppliers, the Japanese battery maker seems to be losing its competitive edge in the industry.

Overall, the global EV battery market size is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2022 to $98 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights.

Electrification

White Gold: Mapping U.S. Lithium Mines

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist partnerered with EnergyX to explore the size and location of U.S. lithium mines.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

April 11, 2024

By

White Gold: Mapping U.S. Lithium Mines

The U.S. doubled imports of lithium-ion batteries for the third consecutive year in 2022, and with EV demand growing yearly, U.S. lithium mines must ramp up production or rely on other nations for their supply of refined lithium.

To determine if the domestic U.S. lithium opportunity can meet demand, we partnered with EnergyX to determine how much lithium sits within U.S. borders.

U.S. Lithium Projects

The most crucial measure of a lithium mine’s potential is the quantity that can be extracted from the source.

For each lithium resource, the potential volume of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) was calculated with a ratio of one metric ton of lithium producing 5.32 metric tons of LCE. Cumulatively, existing U.S. lithium projects contain 94.8 million metric tons of LCE.

Rank	Project Name	LCE, million metric tons (est.)
1	McDermitt Caldera	21.5
2	Thacker Pass	19.1
3	Tonopah Flats	18.0
4	TLC Lithium	10.7
5	Clayton Valley (Century Lithium)	6.3
6	Zeus Lithium	6.3
7	Rhyolite Ridge	3.4
8	Arkansas Smackover (Phase 1A)	2.8
9	Basin Project	2.2
10	McGee Deposit	2.1
11	Arkansas Smackover (South West)	1.8
12	Clayton Valley (Lithium-X, Pure Energy)	0.8
13	Big Sandy	0.3
14	Imperial Valley/Salton Sea	0.3

U.S. Lithium Opportunities, By State

U.S. lithium projects mainly exist in western states, with comparatively minor opportunities in central or eastern states.

State	LCE, million metric tons (est.)
Nevada	88.2
Arkansas	4.6
Arizona	2.5
California	0.3

Currently, the U.S. is sitting on a wealth of lithium that it is underutilizing. For context, in 2022, the U.S. only produced about 5,000 metric tons of LCE and imported a projected 19,000 metric tons of LCE, showing that the demand for the mineral is healthy.

The Next Gold Rush?

U.S. lithium companies have the opportunity to become global leaders in lithium production and accelerate the transition to sustainable energy sources. This is particularly important as the demand for lithium is increasing every year.

EnergyX is on a mission to meet U.S. lithium demands using groundbreaking technology that can extract 300% more lithium from a source than traditional methods.

You can take advantage of this opportunity by investing in EnergyX and joining other significant players like GM in becoming a shareholder.