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  • NATURE INDEX

Are rooftop solar panels the answer to meeting China’s challenging climate targets?

Research is central to the success of major photovoltaic programmes in ramping up clean energy and alleviating rural poverty.
By
  1. Yvaine Ye

    1. Yvaine Ye is a US-based freelance writer.

On board China’s high-speed rail network, travelling at more than 200 kilometres per hour, David Fishman knew that he had arrived in Shandong province when he saw a field of dark, glimmering rooftops from the train window. Fishman, an energy analyst at the Lantau Group, an economic consultancy firm in Shanghai, was keen to meet with developers in Shandong to understand how China is developing extensive rooftop solar installations at such a remarkable pace. Shandong is leading China’s rooftop solar-development initiatives, accounting for 18% of such projects across the country. As of March, the province had installed 33 gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar capacity, enough to power an estimated 18 million homes.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02991-x

This article is part of Nature Index 2023 Science cities, an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

References

  1. Zhang, H. et al. Nature Commun. 11, 1969 (2020).

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  2. Hove, A. WIREs Energy Environ. 12, e488 (2023).

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