Global solar energy capacity will exceed 1,500GW by 2030.

That’s the prediction from GlobalData, which suggests the volume of photovoltaic infrastructure installed around the world will nearly triple by 2030, soaring from its current figure of 593.9GW to 1,582.9GW.

It expects this growth will be largely driven by China, India, Germany, the US and Japan.

GlobalData notes the Chinese solar market had a ‘remarkable’ year in 2017, recording 53.1GW of new installations – this was the highest annual solar addition between 2010 and 2018.

The nation is now hoping to reach between 210GW and 270GW of installed solar capacity by 2020.

Anchal Agarwal, Power Analyst at GlobalData said: “During 2019 to 2030, the country is set to have the largest capacity additions each year with more than 25GW planned to be added annually.

“About a third of the global capacity addition during this period is set to be from installations in China.”

He added the Asia-Pacific is the largest regional market in terms of cumulative capacity, boasting a 58.1% share of global solar photovoltaic capacity in 2018.