Establishment of rooftop PV systems at commercial and factory buildings in China is expected to grow fast, with cumulative installation capacity forecast to reach 40GWp in 2020 and 125GWp in 2040, according to industry sources.
The China government has adjusted PV installation polices by limiting establishment of ground-mounted PV power stations and instead is encouraging distributed PV systems mostly rooftop ones, the sources said.
The 2016 feed-in tariff rates for distributed PV systems set up in Category 1, 2, 3 geographic areas were CNY0.8 (US$0.12)/kWh, CNY0.88/kWh and CNY0.98/kWh respectively and the rates are lowered to CNY0.65/kWh, CNY0.75/kWh and CNY0.85/kWh respectively for 2017, the sources noted.
Feed-in tariff rates for distributed PV systems are higher than those for ground-mounted systems in geographic areas of the same categories, the sources indicated.
Reduced feed-in tariff rates will decrease return on investment. For example, in Zhejiang Province (Category 1), eastern China, cost for constructing a 5MWp rooftop PV system at commercial or factory buildings is estimated at CNY5.8/W with operating cost at CNY0.07/W. Internal rate of return (IRR) on investment will drop 1.67pp at every decrease in feed-in tariff rate by CNY0.1/kWh, the sources noted.
Rooftop PV systems at residential buildings offer big development potential in China, the sources said. There are about 350 million households in China, and if 30% of them set up rooftop PV systems with an average installation capacity of 3KWp per household, total installation capacity for residential rooftop systems will reach 315GWp, the sources said.
Article translated by Adam Hwang
