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).
The NEA Sunday said the mainland last year added 8.55GW of ground-mounted solar farms and 2.05GW of off-grid ones. This contrasted with the NEA’s original target to add 6GW ground-mounted projects and 8GW of off-grid ones.
The off-grid target – 10 times that installed in 2013 – was overly-optimistic, industry executives have said, since the nascent business’ expansion was hampered by difficulties in obtaining financing, building roof-top development rights and long-term power purchase commitment.
Addressing the challenges, the NEA last September raised subsidies for off-grid projects so that they can enjoy similarly high subsidies as ground-mounted ones, and extended the subsidies to off-grid projects in agricultural land, inter-tidal areas, non-arable land and fish farms.
The NEA Sunday said the 10.6GW installed last year amounted to a quarter of the global volume, and a third of the mainlands’ solar panels output.
Mainland output of polysilicon – the key raw material for solar panel - rose almost 50 per cent last year to 130,000 tonnes, while imports amounted to around 90,000 tonnes, it added.
Mainland solar panel output grew 17 per cent last year to just over 33GW, with the top 10 makers’ factory capacity averaging around 87 per cent, the NEA said.
