China’s PV industry’s production value last year reached RMB1.4 trillion (US$203.5 billion), according to a report published by China’s ministry of industry and information technology. The report Operation of the PV Manufacturing Industry in China in 2022 stated that the output in all links of China’s PV industry chain achieved a record high, where polysilicon, silicon wafers, cells and solar panels reached 827,000 tons, 357GW, 318GW and 288.7GW, respectively, equivalent to a year-on-year growth of more than 55%. According to Bohua Wang, honorary president of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, there were 87.41GW of newly installed capacity in China last year, including distributed installation capacity of 51.11GW, an increase of 74%. New centralised installments reached 36.3GW, an increase of 41.8%. Wang added that China’s PV export reached US$51.2 billion, the first time exceeding US$50 billion. Of this amount, solar modules accounted for US$42.36 billion, silicon wafers US$5.07 billion and cells US$3.82 billion. Looking forward, the China Photovoltaic Association added that new PV installations would reach 280-330GW globally, while about 95GW-120GW will come from China.

In 2022, Germany added 7.18GW of solar energy system, 2.14GW of onshore wind and 342MW of offshore wind. Net additions were stronger than in 2021, but still far below the pace needed to meet the 2030 renewable energy targets. According to data released by the Federal Network Agency, by the end of 2022, Germany will have 66.49GW of solar system capacity in operation. In order to achieve the target of 215GW in 2030, Germany needs to install 1.54GW per month on average. More than half of the new capacity, around 4.4GW, came from rooftop projects and 746.7MW from unsubsidized ground-mounted solar panels. Bavaria was once again the leader in new solar capacity, adding 2.09GW for all of 2022, bringing its total to 18.3GW at the end of the year. The North Rhine-Westphalia state came second with 899.2MW of net installed capacity, followed by Brandenburg with 794.1MW. In terms of onshore wind power, Germany's operating capacity by the end of the year was 58.2GW, and December witnessed the highest monthly growth rate of 309MW in the year. Despite an acceleration by the end of 2022, the rate of expansion would have to increase to an average of 591MW per month, so that by the end of the decade Germany's onshore wind turbines would reach 115GW. In terms of offshore wind power, as many as 38 offshore wind turbines (totaling 342MW) were integrated into the German grid last year, bringing Germany's wind power capacity in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to 8.12GW.

Construction of the new energy base project in the north-central Ordos of the Kubuqi Desert, built by the China Three Gorges Corporation and the Inner Mongolia Energy Group, started construction in Dalate Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. The project is the world's largest wind power solar panel base project developed and constructed in desert, Gobi, and desert areas, and it is also the first 10-million-kilowatt new energy large base project in my country to start construction. The planned total investment of the Kubuqi base project is over 80 billion yuan, with a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts, including 8 million kilowatts of photovoltaics and 4 million kilowatts of wind power, and supporting reconstruction and expansion of advanced and high-efficiency coal power installed capacity of 4 million kilowatts. The pilot project announced this time is a 1 million-kilowatt solar panel power generation project, and corresponding energy storage facilities will be configured and constructed. After the project is fully completed, it will be able to transmit about 40 billion kWh of electricity to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region each year, of which clean energy will account for more than 50%, which is equivalent to saving about 6 million tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 16 million tons. Lei Mingshan, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of China Three Gorges Corporation, said that the Kubuqi base project has a large scale, high technical difficulty, and great innovation significance. It provides important demonstration application scenarios for new technologies, new mechanisms, new models, and new formats in the new solar energy system.  During the construction of the Kubuqi base project, we will continue to explore and carry out ecosystem protection and restoration, and build a circular development model that integrates new energy power generation, ecotourism, and desert control. The Kubuqi Desert is located in the northern part of the Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia and is the seventh largest desert in China. In 2014, the Kubuqi Desert was identified by the United Nations Environment Program as a "Global Desert Eco-Economy Demonstration Area". Kubuqi desert governance has also become a green business card for China. On the same day, the China Three Gorges Corporation announced the intensive start of 27 new energy and Yangtze River protection projects, and the Kubuqi base project is one of them. The planned total investment of these start-up projects is 109.055 billion yuan, with a total installed capacity of 19.6368 million kilowatts, all of which are clean energy and ecological environmental protection projects.

According to a new report by the IEA-PVPS, by the end of 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of solar photovoltaics in Japan will reach 78.4GW. By the end of 2023, the cumulative capacity of the Japanese market may reach 90GW. Among all new installed capacity this year, large-scale solar energy projects are 2.5GW-3GW, and the rest are rooftop solar panel, especially industrial and commercial power generation systems. The reasons for the low realization rate of large-scale projects include: 1. There is no mandatory project completion timetable; 2. The uncertainty of future FIT and developers expect the system cost to continue to decline; 3. Obtaining land use rights and converting agricultural land to industrial land 4. Due to the limited capacity of the grid, the resistance of the grid company increases. Analysts predict that Japan's new photovoltaic capacity will be around 5GW-6GW in 2022 and 2023, and the market share between centralized and distributed projects will not change significantly. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, recently the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA) are jointly formulating new rules to support the development of rooftop solar energy system in the Japanese capital. The authorities plan to introduce new mandatory PV requirements for new buildings and dwellings from 2025. The city government first announced plans for a mandatory solar requirement in early September this year. Currently, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly is still discussing the plans. The new rules, if approved, could apply to new dwellings with a roof area of more than 20 square meters and buildings with a total roof area of less than 2,000 square meters. The new rules could also require businesses to install solar panels on 30 percent of their roof area. Some parts of Tokyo may face a requirement that 85% of their roofs be covered with photovoltaics.

On November 21, the flexible support part of the Yingjiang Agricultural Photovoltaic Power Generation Project of China Energy Group Yunnan Company entered the component installation stage. The project is one of the key new energy development projects in Yunnan Province in 2022. It is located in Yingjiang County, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, with a total installed capacity of 150 MW and an area of 3427 mu. A mixed arrangement of fixed brackets and flexible brackets is adopted, among which the square array of flexible brackets exceeds 100 MW, which is the largest single-scale project among solar panel projects constructed with flexible brackets in Southwest China. The flexible support is to install solar panels on rows of steel cables, and the two ends of the steel cables are supported by rigid structures. Compared with the traditional fixed support, the flexible support can span complex terrain such as gullies, steep slopes, streams, etc., and can effectively improve the land utilization rate. It has the advantages of large span, high headroom, and good crack resistance. It meets the needs of agriculture and light complementarity. The successful practice of the project provides experience accumulation and technical reference for the later complex terrain photovoltaic projects to adopt flexible support construction.

On the evening of November 20, the 2022 Qatar World Cup kicked off. The previous World Cup songs are sung again, the mascots are reappeared, and the feelings are full! Although the Chinese men's football team is missing on the field, Chinese elements are still active in all aspects of the game. In the field of new energy power generation in Qatar, Chinese manufacturing is also the main force. Among them, the eye-catching project is the 800MW solar energy power station in Alcazar, Qatar, which can meet 10% of the country's peak power demand and greatly increase the proportion of renewable energy in Qatar's energy consumption. It not only provides power guarantee for the World Cup, but also An important move for Qatar to fulfill its commitment to host a "Green World Cup". The power station is located in the desert 80 kilometers west of Doha, the capital of Qatar. The park covers an area of ​​10 square kilometers, which is equivalent to about 1,400 football fields. More than 2 million solar panels have been installed to make use of the unique light and heat resources in this area for electricity production. It is the first non-fossil fuel power station in Qatar, and is currently the third largest single photovoltaic power generation project in the world, as well as the world's largest photovoltaic project using tracking systems and bifacial solar panels. It is reported that the Alcazar solar energy system project can provide Qatar with about 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity every year, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of about 300,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 900,000 tons per year. The project has far-reaching significance in Qatar and the entire Middle East region, and can meet more than 10% of Qatar's peak power demand. Khabir, Minister of State for Energy Affairs of Qatar, pointed out at the commissioning ceremony last month that after being connected to the grid, the project will provide Qatar with energy support at competitive electricity prices, and improve energy efficiency through diversification of power sources. The proportion of renewable energy utilization is also conducive to the realization of national economic diversification. According to public information, the total investment of the Alcazar photovoltaic project is 417 million US dollars. The EPC of the power station is generally contracted by PowerChina Guizhou Engineering Co., Ltd., and the project will start construction in July 2020. This project is also the world's largest photovoltaic project that uses tracking systems and bifacial modules. All the modules use LONGi's "Hi-MO 4" bifacial solar panels, and Sungrow provides a complete set of 1500V solar inverter solutions. Li Jun, the on-site construction manager of PowerChina Project, said: "This project provides Qatar with a greener and more stable power supply. The 800 MW photovoltaic area of ​​this project all uses Chinese equipment, which accounts for more than ...

Government officials in the eastern German city of Cottbus have paved the way for the development of Germany's largest floating photovoltaic power plant. The solar power panel will be built on Lake Cottbus Ostsee, an artificial lake formed by a former open-pit lignite mine. Cottbus Mayor Holger Kelch and energy company LEAG announced the upcoming solar power project. Project developers LEAG and EP New Energies can now apply to the authorities for the required construction permits by the end of 2022, as the government sends a green signal for floating PV projects, an official statement said. According to the announced details, the solar project is expected to produce around 20,000MWh of clean electricity per year. Construction on the lake solar project is expected to begin in spring 2023. LEAG has also previously mentioned that the project could be operational next year. Fabian von Oesen, Head of Renewable Energy at LEAG, said: "The Cottbus Ostsee lake covers an area of ​​1,900 hectares. Although the floating solar panels occupies less than one percent of the lake's surface, it will make an important contribution to the climate-friendly power supply of the Cottbus port area. contribute." The size of the lake makes it feasible to install these types of floating PV plants without encroaching on the shores of the lake used for tourism or interfering with planned shipping routes, according to the press release. According to LEAG calculations, the power station generates enough electricity to power 5,700 homes each year. Mayor Holger Kelch added: "Floating PV is just the first step we are taking together. Projects like wind turbines and lake water heat pumps will follow." Lake Cottbus Ostsee will also be the largest artificial inland lake in Germany. Germany wants to have 215GW of installed PV capacity by the end of this decade. In addition, LEAG plans to develop other renewable energy projects on other former fossil fuel project sites in Brandenburg.

On October 31, the 20 MW deep-sea floating solar energy system 500 kW demonstration project of SPIC Shandong Peninsula South No. 3 offshore wind farm successfully generated power, becoming the world's first deep-sea wind-solar floating solar panel demonstration project put into use.   The project is located in the sea area on the south side of Haiyang City, Shandong Province, 30 kilometers offshore and with a water depth of 30 meters. The 500-kilowatt floating offshore photovoltaic unit under construction this time is composed of two annular floating body units, with a single floating body unit having an installed capacity of 250 kilowatts. A total of 770 solar panels are installed on the floating unit with a diameter of 53 meters and an area equivalent to 4 standard basketball courts. The clean electric energy generated by it is collected to the inverter and sent to the peninsula South No. 3 wind turbine platform operating in the same field. Subsequently, it will be sent to the grid through the offshore booster station. This demonstration project verifies the wind and wave resistance of the floating body, anchoring, and power generation components and the weather resistance of the marine environment, and verifies the technical feasibility of wind and solar power grid integration. Different from the existing offshore photovoltaics in sheltered sea areas and offshore areas, this demonstration project is the world's first floating research and construction under the "Double 30" marine environment with an offshore distance of 30 kilometers, a water depth of 30 meters, and an extreme wave height of 10 meters. The demonstration project of offshore solar panel engineering, which adopts the patented elastic thin film technology of Norway Ocean Sun Company, the design of anchoring system and the marine environment-resistant photovoltaic modules customized by GCL Corporation, was jointly constructed by Beijing Sun Energy Company and Tianjin Port and Shipping Company to realize wind power, Photovoltaic power generation in the same field can effectively reduce the project cost and operation and maintenance cost, explore the technical route for the future scale, commercialization and standardization of offshore photovoltaics, and realize the value symbiosis with the industrial chain. According to the person in charge of the project, the ring-shaped anti-wind and wave floating body of the offshore photovoltaic power station is prefabricated by high-density polyethylene pipe fittings, with a height of 0.6 to 0.8 meters. It is anchored to the seabed through 4 mooring points and 12 cables, and the safe distance from the wind turbine is kept at 60 meters. A new type of photovoltaic module platform is built in the middle of the floating body, and customized solar energy power generation components are used according to the sea conditions, which can reduce the impact of waves on the photovoltaic panels. The cooling of photovoltaic equipment by water can effect...