According to information released by State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. on August 18th, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in Jiangsu has surpassed the 100 gigawatt mark, reaching 100.08 gigawatts, which accounts for more than 38% of the province's total installed power generation capacity. This achievement makes Jiangsu the first province in China to break the 100 gigawatt threshold for solar power installation, and solar energy has now overtaken coal, gas turbines, and wind power to become the province's largest source of electricity.
Driven by the "dual carbon" goals since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu's solar capacity has expanded by over 70 gigawatts in just five years, multiplying several times compared to its initial levels. The province's installed solar capacity jumped from surpassing 90 gigawatts in January of this year to exceeding 100 gigawatts now, a leap accomplished in under seven months, demonstrating an accelerating pace of growth.
Distributed solar power is the main driver behind Jiangsu's monumental achievement, with the province's total distributed solar installations reaching 69.29 gigawatts, accounting for nearly 70% of its overall solar capacity and ranking first nationally in scale.
"As a major economic and electricity-consuming province, Jiangsu has limited land resources, so it has forged a unique path characterized by 'distributed solar on land as the mainstay, centralized solar as a supplement, and distinctive offshore development.' By leveraging rooftop resources from industrial parks, public buildings, and rural residential homes, the province has developed a distinctive distributed solar landscape," said Gao Zhengping, a second-level official from the Development Department of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power. He noted that this distributed-focused solar development model provides important reference value for other regions with similar characteristics.
Recently, the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued the "Jiangsu Province Distributed Solar Development Implementation Plan (2026-2030)," which sets targets for cumulative distributed solar installations to reach 120 gigawatts by 2030 and 160 gigawatts by 2035. The plan proposes a dual approach of "whole-village contiguous development" and "whole-park centralized construction," prioritizing centralized power collection supplemented by dispersed grid connections, with initial focus on industrial parks, whole-village residential rooftops, public buildings, and transportation sectors.
To address the grid connection pressure from distributed solar, State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power has pioneered a development model featuring "unified planning by local governments, unified development of whole-village resources, unified grid connection by power companies, and unified protection of resident rights." Local governments coordinate rooftop resources and introduce state-owned and private enterprises to file for unified registration under non-natural-person names. Power supply companies are responsible for constructing supporting grid infrastructure and encouraging medium-voltage power collection connections to enhance development and construction efficiency.
Currently, whole-village development pilot projects have been launched in 48 villages across 12 cities, including Lianyungang and Xuzhou, with 731 distributed solar users developed and a total installed capacity of 22 megawatts. Distributed solar is transitioning from "spontaneous and disorderly" development to a "regulated and orderly" approach.
To ensure that large-scale solar power can be connected, transmitted, and utilized reliably, State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power has implemented multiple measures to enhance grid connection and consumption capacity. These include strengthening the main grid through coastal channel upgrades and the Nantong-Suzhou direct current transmission project, upgrading the distribution network to continuously expand distributed solar connection capacity, and optimizing grid connection services by enabling full online processing for residential and commercial distributed solar projects, with low-voltage connections achieving "zero visits, zero approvals, and zero investment."
During this year's summer peak demand period, new energy has increasingly played a pivotal role in ensuring power supply. Looking back at summer peak hours over the past five years, the share of new energy generation in the province has surged from 9.8% in 2022 to nearly 40% this year. On July 31st, the maximum power load of the Jiangsu power grid exceeded 160 gigawatts for the first time, reaching 160.9 gigawatts, marking the fourth time this summer that a historic record was set. Solar and wind power provided crucial support during the midday electricity demand peak.