New | Solar farm connection in China falls short of target

Mainland China installed and connected 10.6 giga-watts (GW) of solar farms last year, well short of Beijing’s original target, but analysts expect volumes to pick up this year, helped by completion of unfinished projects left over from last year and supportive state policies.

Last year’s installation, announced Sunday by the National Energy Adminstration in a statement posted on its web-site, was lower than 12.9GW mounted in 2013 and the 14GW target set early last year, but slightly above a revised 10GW goal announced mid-year.

It was lower than a 13GW objective subsequently indicated by National Energy Administation chief Wu Xinxiong in August, a month ahead of the launch of industry support measures.

“[We] should see a nice bump in demand in 2015 on the back of policies implemented in [last year’s second half] and benefits from the capital expenditure that manufacturers have embarked upon over the past year,” CLSA head of sustainable research Charles Yonts wrote in a report last month. He forecast installation of 14 GWs for both this year and next year.

Projects completed last year and slated to be connected to power grids by March 31 amount to 2 GW to 3 GW, according to consultancy Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).