Are Chinese solar panels overcapacity problems?

(Photo credit: Unsplash+) China’s significant production of solar panels has led to a dramatic decrease in prices, facilitating the country’s clean-energy transition. However, Chinese manufacturers now face overcapacity issues, raising concerns among the United States, the European Union, and their allies.

What is overpaneling a solar panel?

With overpaneling, your solar array’s peak power exceeds your inverter’s rated AC power. An example is connecting 10kWp (ten kilowatts peak) solar panel capacity to an inverter rated at 8kW AC. What are the Benefits of Overpaneling? Overpaneling is especially helpful on gloomy days and brings opportunities on sunny days.

Does overcapacity exist in the PV industry?

Wang and Luo (2018) find that not only holistic overcapacity but also structural overcapacity exists in the PV industry, indicating that capacity in high-end industries is insufficient and excessive in mid- to low-end industries. Overcapacity can hinder the orderly development of renewable energy (Río and Janeiro, 2016).

Do new solar installations have overcapacity?

Newer solar installations already have significant overcapacity, to the extent that the inverters they feed usually have considerably less capacity than the total generation volume, until recently by a factor of 130%, but with plans in some cases to reach 291%. What to do with all this surplus energy?

Is overpaneling a safe way to install solar panels?

Overpaneling, is a strategic approach to solar panel installation. It involves deploying a solar array with a capacity exceeding the inverter’s rated output. You might be thinking that this is not safe. But don’t worry! There is a way to do it safely.

Did solar companies overestimate the pace of solar installation growth?

But the world’s solar factories — overwhelmingly in China — now have enough capacity to produce 1,200 gigawatts’ worth, most of which is sitting unused, according to BloombergNEF estimates. Did these companies simply overestimate the pace of solar installation growth? Not necessarily, according to analysts at Wood Mackenzie.