Total global solar installations are just over 1TW, or about 0.125 kW per capita for a population of 8 billion. Rapidly falling costs, policy incentives to transition to a net zero carbon future by 2050, and energy security solutions are greatly accelerating solar installations, but the pace still lags behind demand.
There are two major barriers that need to be overcome to accelerate the pace of solar installations. One is land and space constraints, and the other is how to turn solar leapfrogging into an opportunity while addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges, in particular achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN's 2030 Agenda.
In 2019, the Research Center for Energy Transition and Social Development at Tsinghua University's School of Social Sciences launched a pilot project named "One kW per capita Solar Installations by 2035," which aims to break the stalemate and drive China's rural clean energy transition. Through innovative design of partnerships, business models and government management approaches, the pilot project has exported valuable and actionable recommendations and experiences to many regions. A key outcome of the pilot project has been the establishment of viable models that have enabled counties, towns, and villages to scale up solar installations at a faster pace, and these successes have been tested, researched and validated not only technically, but also economically, financially and socially, and can be scaled up and replicated.
In 2023, the pilot upgrades to "One kW per capita Solar Installations" Project with additional lead partners.