The global solar industry has passed the point of no return. According to the latest data from Global Energy Monitor’s Solar Power Tracker, the world’s total pipeline of solar capacity – both operational and under development – now stands at an astonishing 2.85 terawatts (TWac). That is enough to power the entire planet several times over if fully realized. More importantly, the distribution of this future capacity reveals a dramatic and irreversible shift in the geography of clean energy.
China has become the undisputed sun king.
Beijing alone accounts for more than 1.1 TW of combined operating and prospective solar capacity – nearly 40% of everything humanity has either built or seriously plans to build. Of that, a jaw-dropping 671 GW exists only on drawing boards and in permitting queues today. To put that number in perspective: China’s planned solar additions by themselves are larger than the current total electricity generating capacity of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom combined.
The dominance goes far beyond gigawatts on paper. China manufactures over 80% of the world’s polysilicon, wafers, cells, and finished solar modules. It controls roughly 90% of global ingot and wafer production and more than 95% of the supply chain for the high-purity quartz crucibles needed to grow silicon crystals. In 2024 alone, Chinese factories shipped more solar panels than the rest of the world had installed in all of history up to 2020. Domestic panel prices have fallen below $0.11 per watt – less than the cost of the glass and aluminum frame in many Western markets.
The rest of the planet is racing to keep up, but the gap is enormous.
The United States, in second place, has 238 GW of future capacity in the pipeline – less than 36% of China’s planned additions. India follows with 171 GW, an impressive leap for a country that had almost no utility-scale solar a decade ago, yet still only about a quarter of China’s prospective build-out. Together, the second- and third-place nations don’t even reach half of China’s future solar fleet.
Europe, once the pioneer of solar subsidies, has largely fallen out of the top tier. Germany, Spain, and Italy combined barely scrape 100 GW of future projects. The entire European Union’s pipeline is smaller than India’s.
Instead, the new solar superpowers are emerging in unexpected places.
Mauritania, a desert nation of fewer than five million people, now ranks in the global top 15 thanks to more than 35 GW of announced projects – equivalent to roughly eight nuclear reactors’ worth of capacity for every million citizens. Colombia, long associated with coffee and oil, has jumped into the same league with over 35 GW of solar in development, leveraging its stable equatorial sunlight and newly liberalized energy market.
Other surprising entrants include Oman (41 GW planned), Egypt, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates – nations that historically built their wealth on fossil fuels but are now hedging with massive solar farms that dwarf anything seen in most of Europe.
The implications reach far beyond electricity markets.
At current build rates, solar is on track to become the largest source of installed electricity capacity on Earth before 2030, overtaking coal, gas, and hydro. BloombergNEF estimates that by 2027, new solar installations will be cheaper than running existing coal plants in most countries. In sun-rich regions, utility-scale solar plus battery storage already undercuts new natural gas peaker plants on cost.
Meanwhile, the geographic concentration creates new strategic realities. Just as OPEC once influenced global energy through oil, a handful of countries – led overwhelmingly by China – now hold decisive sway over the raw materials, manufacturing, and future deployment of the world’s fastest-growing energy source.
Also read:
- Satoshi Nakamoto's Shadowy Fortune Evaporates $42 Billion in a Month: Bitcoin's Brutal November Slide
- The Unsung Architects of America's AI Ascendancy: China's Enduring Talent Pipeline
- The Great American Job Freeze: Why Nobody’s Jumping Anymore
For governments and corporations racing to decarbonize, the message is blunt: the solar future will be built at Chinese speeds, on Chinese supply chains, and increasingly in sun-drenched emerging economies that skipped the fossil era entirely. The countries that master grid flexibility, long-duration storage, and diplomatic access to panels will be the energy winners of the 21st century.
The sun may rise everywhere, but for the foreseeable future, its power will be harnessed first – and most decisively – under the red flag.
