China increases 2015 target for solar power development by further 50 percent

China has revealed ambitious plans to increase its solar power development target for 2015 by an additional 50 percent, according to state media.

The Chinese government now hopes to install a further 15 gigawatts (GW) of solar generated power and 100 GW of wind power by 2015. Earlier this year China had already increased its 2015 solar installation target to 10 GW in response to Japan’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

China has experienced a surge in the installation of solar power following the unification of feed-in tariffs by the government in July this year, which offered a higher price for projects that were completed before the year was out, according to Reuters.

It is anticipated that by 2015 China’s annual solar power output could reach 20 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) and wind output as much as 190 billion kWh. In 2010 China’s installed solar power capacity was less than 1 GW, according to a report by China National Radio.

The report also noted that by 2015 non-fossil energy related production, including wind and solar, will amount to the equivalent of 480 million tonnes of standard coal-generated power.