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Chih-heng Liang, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Wednesday 10 November 2010]
The Chinese government has passed successive legislation including the Renewable Energy Law and the Renewable Energy Medium and Long-term Development Plan, with the aim of seeing China's total solar power capacity reach 300MWp in 2010 and 1,800MWp by 2020. With the implementation of the upcoming 12th Five Year Plan, the on-grid solar power market will only continue to grow in importance. In this special report, DIGITIMES Research provides a comprehensive overview of the laws and policies enacted by China's Central Government, as well as the reresulting activities seen at the provincial level, to develop China's wealth of solar power resources. Abstract 
China is rich in solar power resources, with the average annual solar radiation level in excess of 5,000MJ/m2 and two-thirds of the country's area experiencing 2,200 or more sunshine hours per year. In order to develop China's wealth of solar power resources, the Chinese government has passed successive legislation including the Renewable Energy Law and the Renewable Energy Medium and Long-term Development Plan, which stipulate medium and long-term objectives for the development of the solar power market. According to these plans, China's total solar power capacity will reach 300MWp in 2010 and 1,800MWp by 2020.
In terms of market development, the Chinese solar power market originally focused on supplying electricity to remote areas, with stand-alone solar and wind-solar hybrid systems accounting for the bulk of activity, although other commercial applications also accounted for a significant share of the market. Beginning in 2009, China announced a series of plans and subsidies intended to support the development of the Chinese solar power industry, including open bidding for solar power plant licenses, the Solar Rooftop Plan and the Golden Sun Demonstration Projects. These activities were aimed at developing large-scale solar power plants and urban rooftop solar power systems.
In 2010, China also enacted a revised Renewable Energy Law giving clearer guidance to address issues in the existing legislation and affirming the role of the Central Government in organization and planning, as well as switching the purchasing system for renewable energy from a mandatory system to a guaranteed purchase scheme. These guaranteed purchase principles make electricity distributors more willing to purchase renewable energy by more clearly defining the relationship between electricity distributors and power generation businesses in terms of rights and responsibilities; it also gives guarantees regarding the launch of future on-grid pricing systems or feed-in tariffs (FIT) for renewable energy.
DIGITIMES Research predicts that in 2010, new installed capacity for solar power systems in China is likely to reach 600MWp. Moreover, as China's forthcoming 12th Five Year Plan will specify new energy sources as focal points for development, the Chinese on-grid solar power market will only continue to grow in importance.
The DIGITIMES Special Report, Overview of China's solar PV policies, provides a comprehensive overview of the laws and policies enacted by China's Central Government, as well as the resulting activities seen at the provincial level, as local governments look to proactively cooperate with the Central Government's policy direction to help develop the nation's domestic alternative energy market.
Table of contents Introduction to China's renewable energy market Solar energy Chart 1: China solar energy potential - total solar radiation per square meter per year (MJ/m2) Table 1: Classification and distribution of solar energy resources in China Table 2: Theoretical Chinese solar energy resources by province (1 of 2) Table 3: Theoretical Chinese solar energy resources by province (2 of 2) Table 4: Potential capacity for power stations in Western China and Inner Mongolia Wind energy Chart 2: Annual average wind power density (WPD) concentration at 10m Biomass energy Geothermal energy Hydropower energy China's renewable energy plans and policies Law of the People's Republic of China on Renewable Energies in 2006 Plan for medium- and long-term development of renewable energy Table 5: Solar power development goals in China's Medium- and Long-term Renewable Energy Development Program Law of the People's Republic of China on Renewable Energies Energy Law PV market development in China Chart 3: China power grid electricity sales trends, 2006-2010 (100 million watts) Chart 4: Proportional breakdown of generator types of the 6MW class or higher in China, (1Q 2010) PV market development in China PV market centered on stand-alone systems before 2008 Chart 5: New and cumulative installation trends for PV systems in China, 2001-2008 Table 6: Stand-alone PV system construction projects and quantity statistics for China pre-2006 Table 7: Cumulative installations and distribution by market application for PV systems in China, 2006-2009 PV market centered on on-grid systems after 2008 Chart 6: New PV system installations by province, 2009 (MWp) Chart 7: New and cumulative installation trends for PV systems in China, 2008-2012 (MWp) Challenges and opportunities facing PV market development in China Maintenance problems with stand-alone PV systems Grid connection technologies await improvements Open bidding for FIT rates results in excessively low bids Chart 8: On-grid electricity prices set by PRC National Development & Reform Commission, 2008-2010 State power corporations expansion into the PV market Table 8: Power plant investments in China Implicit local protectionism Flaws in equipment subsidies Domestic Chinese market as outlet for inferior products China still undecided on unified national FIT rates Power grid connection problems for renewable power generation Chinese state incentive programs for solar PV systems Open bidding for PV plant licenses 2009 Dunhuang Project License project bids in 2010 Table 9: China 2010 open bids for PV license projects Chart 9: Share of China 2010 open bids for PV license projects by region Solar Rooftop Plan Table 10: Objectives of the Solar Rooftop Program Table 11: Subsidy standards for Solar Rooftop Program, 2010 Table 12: Solar Rooftop Plan application criteria Golden Sun Project Table 13: Golden Sun project requirements Table 14: Golden Sun basic requirements, 2009 Golden Sun Project (subprojects) Chart 10: Gold Sun projects by application and share, 2009 (MWp) Chart 11: Golden Sun projects by region, 2009 (1/2) Chart 12: Golden Sun projects by region, 2009 (2/2) PV system subsidy programs by region Ningxia Autonomous Region Table 15: Overview of PV power generation projects in Ningxia Autonomous Region Qinghai Province Chart 13: Qinghai electricity generation share by application, 2010 (MW) Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Beijing Municipality Chart 14: Emphasis of Beijing Golden Sunlight Program Jiangsu Province Table 16: Jiangsu on-grid power rates, 2009-2011 (RMB/W) Table 17: Jiangsu system installation targets, 2009-2011 Shandong Province Chart 15: Targets for PV system development in Shandong, 2010-2012 (MWp) Table 18: Shandong subsidy policy, 2010-2012 Zhejiang Province Table 19: Zhejiang PV electricity generation subsidy requirements Gansu Province Shanxi Province Shaanxi Province Table 20: Shaanxi solar power development targets for 2020 Hunan Province Table 21: Hunan on-grid PV projects, 2009-2011 Table 22: Hunan PV building projects, 2009-2011 Yunnan Province
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