Solar might be the answer for a world hungry for energy as well as increasingly wary of the damage that power generation can cause: clean energy that’s cheap and virtually limitless. Ranking the top 10 countries with the most solar power capacity is an opportunity to look at who’s doing it.
Although these numbers only go through 2014, they are the most up-to-date available. (These numbers tell us who is generating the most raw energy from solar, not who is providing the most electricity.
The surprising thing about this list is that very small countries are on it. Germany, Japan, Italy – all of them rank higher than the US, even though our land area is much greater.
For now, solar power requires a great deal of space, so the fact that small countries are leading the way in overall capacity is impressive. It also shows how much space there is to install solar in places like the USA that have lots of open land.
The surprising thing about this list is that very small countries are on it. Germany, Japan, Italy – all of them rank higher than the US, even though our land area is much greater.
For now, solar power requires a great deal of space, so the fact that small countries are leading the way in overall capacity is impressive. It also shows how much space there is to install solar in places like the USA that have lots of open land.
The cumulative solar power capacity for the entire world is 177,003 Megawatts – enough to power over 29 million homes. The following are the top 10 solar countries in the world:
10. South Korea: 2,398 Megawatts
9. Belgium: 3,156 Megawatts
8. Australia: 4,130 Megawatts
7. Spain: 5,376 Megawatts
6. France: 5,678 Megawatts
5. United States: 18,317 Megawatts
4. Italy: 18,622 Megawatts
3. Japan: 23,409 Megawatts
2. China: 28,330 Megawatts
1. Germany: 38,250 Megawatts
