China shows big growth in solar power

[jpak]

http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.cfm?Section=InTech_Home1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=72743

China has become the largest photovoltaic industry base in the world, and the solar power generation capacity jumped to 1.1 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2007, representing 27.5% of the total solar generation in the world, said Rongqiang Cui, executive director of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society.

All of this happened in five or six years, Cui said. In recent years, the photovoltaic industry in China has had an annual growth rate of 300% and jumped to the top of the world the first time last year. In the first half of this year, the photovoltaic industry in China achieved growth of nearly 100% again, and the total capacity in photovoltaic generation could surpass 2 GW by the end of this year, helping to maintain its leading position in the world.

China currently has several hundred enterprises engaged in research and development as well as manufacturing in the photovoltaic industry.

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[daninthemoon]

1. they may get off the oil and coal before we do.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Let's hope we both get off of them and soon.

[NickB79]

3. China's electrical demand has been growing by 100 GW/year

"It adds the electricity use of Norway, 102 gigawatts, to its power grid every year and builds the equivalent of three coal-fired electricity plants every week (not one, as is usually reported)."

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-07/chinas-green-evolution?page=1

Forgive me if I don't dance in the streets yet at the news that China is adding 2 GW of solar to that mix. The growth rate is amazingly good right now, but the question is: can they sustain it?