Doesn’t that table show Australia has double the consumption? also that consumption number is in total primary energy, regardless if the energy comes from solar or not.
I believe that to see how much of the TPES for each country comes from solar we would need to divide the solar production per capita by the total consumption per capita:
When it comes to China, you really have to look at latest numbers because how much renewable installations there change year to year. China hit an inflection point in 2023 where fossil fuel usage started to shrink:
China installed more solar in 2023 than the rest of the world combined, with the majority of it coming online in the country’s sparsely populated west and north.
That same year, its renewable capacity grew faster than its overall demand for electricity — meaning its fossil fuel usage actually went backwards.
Then, in 2024 China continued to massively expand renewable usage (including solar)
China has achieved another year of remarkable growth in renewable energy, with the addition of 277 GW of solar and 79 GW of wind capacity in 2024. This surge has brought the cumulative solar and wind capacity to a staggering 1,407 GW. China contributed 15% of the world’s installed solar capacity in 2024 alone.
Ok, there are no numbers from 2024 yet in the source.
I think the solar capacity in 2023 for China was 525GW.
So a 277 GW increase in solar means it increased by (277 / 525) 52.76% (that’s great!)
That same percentage increase over the current value in terms of production would not make it rise past Australia per capita yet, but nobody can deny that’s an impressive pace.
Also, considering that the trend in population numbers for China is slowly starting to decrease, that could also contribute to an increase in the per capita numbers in the future.
Per capita production makes no sense actually, per capita consumption makes sense, and that’s double of that in China in Australia.
Doesn’t that table show Australia has double the consumption? also that consumption number is in total primary energy, regardless if the energy comes from solar or not.
I believe that to see how much of the TPES for each country comes from solar we would need to divide the solar production per capita by the total consumption per capita:
- Australia: 1774 kWh / 63257 kWh = 2.80% - China: 410 kWh / 33267 kWh = 1.23%Sources: the 2023 numbers from his link, and the 2023 numbers from the source in your wikipedia link.
When it comes to China, you really have to look at latest numbers because how much renewable installations there change year to year. China hit an inflection point in 2023 where fossil fuel usage started to shrink:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-18/survey-of-the-worlds-solar-shows-global-boom/104006096
Then, in 2024 China continued to massively expand renewable usage (including solar)
https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/012425-infographic-china-solar-capacity-coal-electricity-renewable-energy-hydro-wind
China hit new record of solar and wind power capacity additions in 2024 https://climateenergyfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/MONTHLY-CHINA-ENERGY-UPDATE-Feb-2025.pdf
China was at nearly 50% of the world’s solar capacity in 2024 according to IEA https://reglobal.org/snapshot-of-global-pv-markets-2024/
China’s new PV installations forecast to reach up to 255GW in 2025 https://www.pv-tech.org/chinas-new-pv-installations-forecast-to-reach-up-to-255gw-in-2025/
The pace of transition to renewables in China is on a completely different scale from the rest of the world.
Ok, there are no numbers from 2024 yet in the source.
I think the solar capacity in 2023 for China was 525GW.
So a 277 GW increase in solar means it increased by (277 / 525) 52.76% (that’s great!)
That same percentage increase over the current value in terms of production would not make it rise past Australia per capita yet, but nobody can deny that’s an impressive pace.
Also, considering that the trend in population numbers for China is slowly starting to decrease, that could also contribute to an increase in the per capita numbers in the future.
afghanistan is at the top of the list!!!