By the end of 2022, the global cumulative installed PV capacity reached about 1,185 gigawatts (GW), supplying over 6% of global electricity demand, up from about 3% in 2019. In 2022, solar PV contributed over 10% of the annual domestic consumption of electricity in nine countries, with Spain, Greece and. Between 1992 and 2023, the worldwide usage of (PV) increased. During this period, it evolved from a of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity source. From 2016-2022. In 2022, the total global photovoltaic capacity increased by 228 GW, with a 24% growth year-on-year of new installations. As a result, the total global capacity exceeded 1,185 GW by the end of the year. was. Prices and costs (1977–present)The average dropped drastically for solar cells in the decades leading up to 2017. While in 1977 prices for cells were about $77 per watt, average spot prices in August 2018 were as low as. • • • denotes the peak power output of power stations in unit watt as convenient, to e.g. (kW), (MW) and (GW). Because power output for renewable sources is variable, a source's average generation is generally. The was the leader of installed photovoltaics for many years, and its total capacity was 77 in 1996, more than any other country in the world at the time. From the late 1990s, was the world's leader of solar electricity production until 2005, when • • • • •.