China is the largest market in the world for both photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. China's photovoltaic industry began as development for space satellites and transitioned to domestic energy use in the late 1990s. After heavy government incentives introduced in 2011, China's solar power market grew dramatically, becoming the leading installer in the world for photovoltaics in 2013. In 2015, China surpassed Germany as the world's largest producer of photovoltaic energy and became the first country to have over 100 GW of total installed photovoltaic capacity in 2017. At the end of 2020, China's total installed photovoltaic capacity was 253 GW, accounting for one-third of the world's total installed photovoltaic capacity (760.4 GW). Most of China's solar power is generated within its w