China saw strong exports in photovoltaic products (PV) last year as the world picked up efforts to cope with climate challenges.

In 2021, the country's PV exports surpassed $28.4 billion, growing about 60 percent from $18.23 billion a year before, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. 

With a generally stable PV industry chain and supply chain, the country's annual output of polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules also rose by 27.5 percent to 505,000 tonnes, 40.6 percent to 227 gigawatts (GW), 46.9 percent to 198 GW and 46.1 percent to 182 GW, respectively, year on year, the ministry said.

China, the world's largest solar products producer, also produced 53 GW of solar capacity in 2021, according to the National Energy Administration. The country now has 108 GW of rooftop solar, more than anywhere else in the world.

To support its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060, China aims to have renewable energy, including solar and wind, account for 80 percent of its total energy mix by 2060, and its solar and wind generation capacity reach 1,200 GW by 2030.

Lin Boqiang, dean of Xiamen University's China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, said that relatively rapid expansion in the renewable energy sector in 2022 is expected. Since the current shares of solar and wind are still very small, he predicted that renewable capacity expansion will remain a key focus in 2022.

(With input from Xinhua)