Installed Solar Project Capacity in Megawatts

Pakistan’s True #Solar Footprint Yesterday, Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development and TransitionZero presented their independent GIS-based studies estimating Pakistan’s installed solar #PV capacity and interestingly, their results were remarkably close. 👉 PRIED quantified around 33.34 GW (excluding utility-scale), which rises to ~34.1 GW when utility-scale projects are included. 👉 Transition Zero estimated around 28 GW, with an 18% tolerance, putting the range between 22.5 GW and 32.5 GW. Meanwhile, Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC), using its own GIS-based model, placed total installed capacity at 18–19 GW (all inclusive). Before these studies, my own estimates based on import data, market behavior, inverter imports and consumer consumption trends suggested that Pakistan’s total installed solar PV capacity lies between 32–38 GW, distributed roughly as follows: 1. Single-phase, non–net metered consumers: 12–18 GW (based on increased number of protected category consumers since last 2-3 years) 2. Three-phase, net metered: ~8 GW 3. Agriculture (tube wells): 6–7 GW 4. Industrial (non–net metered): 4–5 GW 5. Off-grid: ~1 GW This places the total installed capacity between 32 and 38 GW. Considering that around 50 GW of solar panels have been imported into Pakistan till September 2025, the remaining ~12 GW could be stockpiled, under installation, or awaiting commissioning. Regardless of which #dataset one relies on, these independent analyses converge on one conclusion #Pakistan has already crossed a major solar milestone, signaling the rapid #decentralization of its energy system and a strong consumer-led clean #energytransition. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the national #grid responds to this unprecedented level of #distributedgeneration and how the authorities adapt policies, infrastructure, and market mechanisms to manage and optimize this new reality. Special thanks to the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development team for undertaking this important study and enlightening policymakers with credible, data-driven insights that will help shape Pakistan’s #renewable energy future.

'Florida has long ranked a distant third place behind California and Texas in installed solar, but it’s now installing more solar panels than any other state — despite a policy landscape that’s considerably more challenging than in other states. The Sunshine State connected 2,499 megawatts of solar-generation capacity to the grid during the first half of 2023, blowing away the 1,648 megawatts added by California and the 1,292 megawatts added by Texas, according to the most recent U.S. Solar Market Insight report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. It’s the first time the state has taken the No. 1 spot in solar installations, marking a potential clean energy inflection point for a populous state with a dirty grid. Florida gets just 6 percent of its electricity from solar and depends largely on fossil gas for the rest.' Courtesy Canary Media Inc. #solar #nxtgen #cleanenergyrevolution Eric Wesoff Tyler Maxwell Jeremie Bernardin Samantha Craig Nathaniel Zulkanycz Erica McMillan NXTGEN Clean Energy Solutions

4530MW of #RenewableEnergy registered with NERSA in 2023! In line with the phasing out of licensing requirement, that's almost 3 times the capacity registered in 2022, and more than 50 times compared to 2021. Q4 2023 ended the year with 605MW of #solarpower exclusively. Q1 2023, with 2467 MW registered driven by large (>100MW) projects, looks more and more like an outlier, however. Between 500-1000MW per quarter emerges as the norm for 2022-2023. 405 projects were registered in total in 2023, including 18 projects over 100MW and 12 projects between 50-100MW. Not surprisingly, most projects (316) are small-scale embedded generation, below 1 MW, almost all (313) based on solar PV systems, but a few large projects logically drove the market in terms of generation capacity, with >100MW projects accounting for 2793MW and 50-100MW projects totalling 2168 MW. Technologically, solar PV dominated in 2023 with 61%, followed by #windenergy (37%). 2023 saw a handful of large (>100MW) wind projects registered, leading to a greater share of wind power than in 2022. Provincially, the Northern Cape led in 2023, followed by the Eastern Cape and the North West. Together, they accounted for 58% of the generation capacity registered in 2023. All in all, the impact of the regulatory reform (relaxation and then removal of licensing requirements) is clear. Going forward, however, the lack of grid capacity will impact the market, slowing down or even halting developments in some provinces. Let's see what 2024 has in store!

SOLAR'S SILENT SUNNY NUMBERS "Solar panels have, over the last months, suddenly gotten so cheap that they’re now appearing in massive numbers across much of the developing world." So writes Bill McKibben in his indispensable newsletter’s newest installment ("Silent Solar" - https://lnkd.in/dHSD3NWV). He continues: "How do we know? Basically by good sleuthing. The first account I saw came from Azeem Azhar and Nathan Warren. They were looking at Pakistan, where power prices in the wake of Putin’s Ukraine invasion have soared so dramatically that sales of electricity have gone down ten percent in the last two years. That should cripple a country — 'yet somehow it’s economy grew by two percent anyway.' Again, that should have been impossible: if there’s a truism, especially in the developing world, it’s that growth in energy use is tied to growth in economies. So what was happening? Basically, Pakistanis were buying huge quantities of very cheap Chinese #solarpanels and putting them up themselves. Pakistan, they reported, 'has become the third-largest importer of Chinese solar modules, acquiring a staggering 13GW in the first half of this year alone.' (...) The country’s entire official electricity generating capacity is only 46 GW. In other words: 'in just six months, Pakistan imported #solar capacity equivalent to 30% of its total electricity generation capacity - an absolutely staggering amount (…) by the end of the year, Pakistan’s distributed solar system could be nearing half the capacity of its entire grid! This isn’t just growth; it’s a silent revolution in energy production'." "Were it just Pakistan, it would be a wonderful story but perhaps not definitive. But (…) Joel Nana, an analyst at Sustainable Energy Africa in Capetown (…) reports something similar happening in country after country — Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, on and on. 'In Namibia we uncovered they have about 70 megawatts of distributed generation — tha’s rooftop solar pv that’s about 11 percent of Namibia’s installed capacity. Eswatini, it’s an old figure, but they’re already at 30 megawatts and it’s a very small country. That’s about 15% of Eswatini’s installed capacity. South Africa is the biggest market, and it has five gigawatts of distributed solar — about 9 percent of South Africa’s installed capacity. You will not see these numbers anywhere,' he said. 'They’re not reported in national plans, not anywhere in continental statistics. No one knows about them. It’s only when you speak to the utilities,' and even they know mostly about the larger installations — there are doubtless far more hut-scale systems across Africa. People are driven by the high cost of electricity, but also by its unreliability". "All this, he points out, is happening without any help from governments, and except for South Africa without financing from banks, who haven’t yet learned how to evaluate the credit risk." (Posted 16 Sept 2024) #BGreadingnotes

#Solar had another record year in 2024, beating its own records and helping to drive the transition away from fossil fuels. ➡️ Solar surged past 2,000 TWh of electricity for the first time in 2024, increasing 29% on the previous year. ➡️ The increase in solar generation of 474 TWh in 2024 was more than twice as much as any other source of electricity, and 45% more than in 2023. Unsurprisingly, China added more solar generation than the rest of the world combined. Solar is growing exponentially. When people are used to linear progressions, this means it appears to grow very little, and then suddenly grows much faster than expected. These stats illustrate the power of exponential growth: ➡️ It took solar eight years to go from 100 TWh to 1,000 TWh and then just three years to pass 2,000 TWh. ➡️ Solar power is currently doubling every three years and the 29% growth rate seen in 2024 was the fastest in six years. ➡️ Solar generation is now more than 20 times larger than it was in 2012, and its share of global generation is 16 times larger. And while that share of 7% doesn't sound particularly large, it doesn't take many doublings before that is a significant fraction of global generation. This is all being driven by record solar capacity additions. The world installed 585 GW of solar last year, 30% more than in 2023 and double the amount installed in 2022. After passing 1 TW of installed solar capacity in 2022, it took just two more years to reach 2 TW. This is a faster growth rate than any power source has seen before. These stats and many more are from Ember's Global Electricity Review, link below. Onwards and upwards! #energy #sustainability #renewables #energytransition

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai is actively expanding to reach a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (5 gigawatts) by 2030. This multi-billion dollar project, overseen by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), will become the world’s largest single-site solar farm upon full completion. It is a core pillar of the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 and the UAE Clean Energy Strategy 2050. Key Facts and Figures Planned Total Capacity: 5,000 MW (5 GW) by 2030. Current Installed Capacity: As of recent expansions (including Phase 6), the park has surpassed 3,860 MW of operational power. Total Investment: AED 50 billion (~$13.6 billion USD). Environmental Impact: Will offset more than 6.5 to 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually once finished. Residential Impact: Slated to generate enough clean electricity to power roughly 800,000 homes across the emirate

Africa just recorded its fastest year of solar deployment on record — with 54% year-on-year growth in 2025. Solar is no longer a side story in Africa’s energy mix. 2025 became a structural turning point. 📊 Top African countries by new solar installations (2025) 1️⃣ 🇿🇦 South Africa — 1,602 MW 2️⃣ 🇳🇬 Nigeria — 803 MW 3️⃣ 🇪🇬 Egypt — 500 MW 4️⃣ 🇩🇿 Algeria — 400 MW 5️⃣ 🇲🇦 Morocco — 204 MW 6️⃣ 🇿🇲 Zambia — 139 MW 7️⃣ 🇹🇳 Tunisia — 120 MW 8️⃣ 🇧🇼 Botswana — 120 MW 9️⃣ 🇬🇭 Ghana — 92 MW 🔟 🇹🇩 Chad — 86 MW 🌍 Total installed in 2025: ~4.5 GW 📈 +54% YoY — the strongest growth ever recorded on the continent. Eight African countries installed 100+ MW in a single year — double the number seen previously. The top 10 markets accounted for roughly 90% of new capacity, but deployment is broadening beyond traditional leaders. 📈 2026–2029 Solar Outlook Three growth scenarios define the trajectory: 🔹 Low-growth scenario ~2.8–3.8 GW annually Market stabilization with policy or financing constraints 🔹 Medium-growth scenario (most likely) ~6.9–9.6 GW annually ~21% CAGR through 2029 ~31.5 GW cumulative new capacity over four years 🔹 High-growth scenario Up to ~15–19 GW annually by 2029 Acceleration driven by strong policy execution and grid expansion #Africa #SolarEnergy #EnergyTransition #Infrastructure #EmergingMarkets #Renewables

452,000 solar panels. 5,000 solar trackers. 267 battery storage modules. 44 transformer stations. 90 inverters. Chile’s Quillagua plant is defining what utility-scale solar paired with long-duration battery storage can look like. This project, Latin America’s largest of its kind, delivers 221 MWp of solar capacity and 1.2 GWh of battery storage. That means clean power well after sunset, with 200 MW delivered for over six hours each evening. It’s a powerful example of how solar and storage are working together to stabilize grids, create jobs (over 300 direct roles here), and accelerate energy independence. As solar continues to scale globally, projects like Quillagua serve as real-time blueprints for innovation. https://lnkd.in/gteChGgg #SolarInnovation #BatteryStorage #RenewableEnergy #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergyFuture #SolarLeadership #BESS #GridStability #OttawaSolarPower

China's solar power rush accelerates before the June deadline when prices paid to new installations change: a whopping 45 GW installed in one month, more than the total solar capacity of Australia or Spain. Solar power installations for the first four months of the year reached 105GW, accelerating 75% year on year. 20 of wind was installed, up 19%, and 13W of thermal (coal&gas), up 40%. It's hard to say whether the 45 GW of solar installed in April is a new record, because December installation numbers are always sky-high, due to a combination of end-year rush and delayed reporting. The April solar installations easily broke the record for any month excluding the December numbers though.