Is there a spatiotemporal map of material stock in China's solar power plants?

To address the aforementioned gaps, we present an integrated framework combining diverse data sources including RS, GIS, and material intensity databases, to perform high-resolution spatiotemporal mapping of material stock in China's solar power plants from 2010 to 2019 at the solar power plant level.

Where are solar power plants located in China?

In contrast, smaller solar power plants (<100MW) are densely scattered in areas closer to urban centers in central and eastern China, with distances ranging from 0 to 50 km, though only several small and remote solar power plants are distributed >50 km from urban areas in the southwest region of China such as Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan.

Where are solar power plants located?

From the perspective of geographical distribution, larger solar power plants (≥100MW) are sparsely distributed in remote locations from urban areas, particularly in the northwest region, notably Qinghai and Xinjiang.

How much solar power does China have in 2023?

China added almost twice as much utility-scale solar and wind power capacity in 2023 than in any other year. By the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW, though data from China Electricity Council put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1,120 GW .

How much centralized solar power plant capacity does China have?

China's installed centralized solar power plant capacity comprises over 60 % of the total installed capacity encompassing both centralized and distributed PV systems (National Energy Administration,2023).

Is solar energy a future development in China?

PV still has significant potential for further development in China, particularly in regions abundant in solar energy resources like northwest China (Lin et al.,2022). Driven by the continued decarbonization of energy structure, the growth of PV installations is expected to keep a rapid pace in the future (Ovaitt et al.,2022).