Beijing to raise rooftop solar power subsidies by up to 55pc

Beijing plans to increase the subsidy on power sales by rooftop solar farm developers to state-owned power distributors by up to 55 per cent, and compel the latter to act as an agent for collecting power bills if the developers directly sell to local customers.

The consensus plan was reached after a meeting two weeks ago among state-backed financial institutions, bank regulators and the National Energy Administration (NEA).

It is aimed at relieving financing difficulties that have hindered installations, and is pending final approval by Beijing, United Photovoltaics Group chief project officer Zou Deyu told a media teleconference.

"The top energy and financial authorities have agreed to the plan, but we are still waiting for the policy documents which are expected to come out soon," Zou said. United, which posted a 50 per cent rise in second-quarter power output from the first quarter, is a Hong Kong-listed unit of state-backed ports-to-property conglomerate China Merchants Group.

Currently, rooftop projects are entitled to a state subsidy of 42 fen (53 HK cents) per kilo-watt-hour (kWh) of output, on top of whatever prices developers manage to get from end-users. These are typically factories in buildings atop which solar farms are built.

If the developers fail to sell all of their output to local users, local power grid operators are obliged to buy the remainder at prices that typically vary from 35 fen to 45 fen per kWh.