Intensive policies to stimulate photovoltaic market acceleration

With the introduction of a series of policies to promote the development of the photovoltaic industry, the development of China's photovoltaic power generation market has accelerated significantly this year. The National Energy Administration said on December 5 that the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in China is expected to increase by 10 million kilowatts this year. The relevant policies will be more inclined to distributed power plants next year, and distributed photovoltaic power generation is expected to account for about 60% of the newly installed capacity.

Analysts pointed out that with the large-scale construction of concentrated photovoltaic power stations in the western part of China, some areas are too concentrated to have “indigestion”, and large-scale development continues to be limited by the power system acceptance capacity. The development of distributed photovoltaic power generation to encourage self-use, both to meet a large number of consumer demand in the eastern region, but also reduce the cost of power transmission, is the main direction of future domestic photovoltaic power generation.

It is understood that after the State Council released the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Photovoltaic Industry" in July this year, the Ministry of Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the State Grid, and the China Development Bank have applied for subsidies, tax rebates, electricity prices, project management, and grid Issues such as financing and the introduction of certain supporting policies have formed strong support for the application of the domestic photovoltaic market.

“The policy documents for photovoltaic power generation applications are basically complete. To promote the development of the local photovoltaic industry, many provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have also formulated supporting policies, such as simplifying filing procedures, and simple management of individual investment in distributed generation systems. Liang Zhipeng, Deputy Director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Division of the National Energy Administration said.

According to the information from the National Energy Administration, as of the end of October 2013, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation nationwide was about 10 million kilowatts, an increase of 3.5 million kilowatts from the end of last year, which is equivalent to the expected increase in installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation this year. It is sufficient to see the rapid development of the domestic photovoltaic power generation market this year.

Liang Zhipeng said that China will adhere to the principle of centralized and distributed, focusing on the development principle of distributed photovoltaic power generation. Because China's eastern and central regions are suitable for the development of distributed photovoltaic power generation, electricity is easily consumed on the spot, and the cost of on-line electricity purchase is high, and there is less demand for electricity subsidies, which can effectively promote industrial technological progress, reduce corporate costs, and gradually reduce subsidies.

“Distributed photovoltaic power subsidy policies and project management measures are introduced in the second half of this year. Many people still do not understand the relevant policies, causing slow start-up of large-scale construction of relevant markets this year, but the potential is great. Distributed photovoltaics are expected next year. The speed of development will be faster," said Meng Xianyu, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society.

According to calculations by the National Energy Administration, photovoltaic power generation in buildings across the country can be installed at about 300 million kilowatts, and only 80 million kilowatts can be installed in industrial parks above the provincial level.

The reporter learned that the provinces with large scale of distributed photovoltaic power generation are Zhejiang, Shandong and Guangdong. Driven by policies, industrial and commercial enterprises, public institutions, and individuals in many regions are highly motivated to build distributed photovoltaic power generation. China National Aviation Industry Corporation, China National Building Material Corporation, China National Nuclear Corporation, and other large-scale central enterprises have formulated implementation plans for the construction of photovoltaic power generation projects by the group-owned enterprises. The average size of each group has reached 400,000 to 500,000 kilowatts.

However, experts also pointed out that China's promotion of distributed photovoltaic power generation still faces some bottlenecks and challenges. The first is financing. Photovoltaic projects have large investment scale and long return period. Some banks are not willing to lend to small and medium-sized projects and need to explore new financing channels.