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Page added on July 17, 2013
China eyes fivefold jump in solar capacity
China is aiming for a fivefold increase in solar power generating capacity by 2015 to shore up domestic solar panel makers that are struggling with overcapacity.
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China is aiming for a fivefold increase in solar power generating capacity by 2015 to shore up domestic solar panel makers that are struggling with overcapacity. [File photo] |
The country aims to install about 10 gigawatts of solar capacity annually from 2013-2015, bringing the total to more than 35GW by the end of 2015, according to a State Council statement posted on the central government’s website yesterday.
The 35GW target, which has been previously revealed by senior energy officials, is higher than the 21GW target announced by the National Energy Administration last year.
Boosting the domestic market will help Chinese solar panel makers, the world’s No. 1 producers, to cut their reliance on foreign markets at a time when trade disputes with Europe and the United States are hitting China’s exports.
The State Council, the country’s Cabinet, also said that China will encourage mergers and acquisitions in the domestic industry and urged banks to provide credit support for big and efficient solar panel producers.
Chinese solar stocks surged yesterday, with Risen Energy Co jumping 10 percent in Shenzhen and Hareon Solar Technology Co gaining 4.35 percent in Shanghai.
The State Council also said it will improve tariff and subsidy systems to allow better investment returns for solar projects. No details were given.
During the second half of 2013, global solar photovoltaic demand is forecast to reach 20GW, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to consultancy NPD Solarbuzz. That will be driven largely by aggressive development in China and Japan, which together are forecast to account for more than 45 percent of global demand in the second half.
The share of Europe, where governments have been scaling back on subsidies for solar power, will decline to less than 30 percent from almost half the global demand during the second half of 2012.
“The solar PV industry continues to transition from a European-dominated environment to a global market, with a wide range of countries contributing to growth in the overall PV market,” said Michael Barker, senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz.
The sector has been hit hard by the excess capacity, falling government subsidies and trade disputes. Manufacturers have been hemorrhaging cash and struggling with mounting debts as panel prices have fallen by two thirds over the past couple of years.
The US last year slapped anti-dumping duties on solar cells imported from China. The European Union has also imposed duties that will jump to punitive levels next month.
China’s dominant power distributor State Grid Corp has been holding back from purchases of electricity from wind and solar farms due mainly in part to concerns that the intermittent sources would disrupt its networks.
9 Comments on "China eyes fivefold jump in solar capacity"
rollin on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 2:21 pm
Seems like there is a lot of unused space in that solar farm (see photo).
The Chinese solar effort will hardly put a dent in the planned coal fired power plants.
BillT on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 2:42 pm
As the West declines, the East grows. I hope the price keeps coming down. The Philippines are not dumb enough to cripple their solar growth with embargoes and taxes. But then, they have all kinds of an ‘alternate’ energy mix here. Wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, hydroelectric, etc. Except nuclear, which they were smart enough to never start up the plant built when the Western puppet, Marcos, was in charge although a few congressmen have tried and failed.
Arthur on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 2:55 pm
Good news. Means a great stimulus for the solar industry and could imply lower prices and create an avelange effect down the price slope.
The EU solar embargo was a very stupid move.
bobinget on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 4:07 pm
Every little bit counts Rollin On,
BTW, Those ’empty spaces’ are there to prevent shading behind panels. Also it makes cleaning, about the only maintenance needed for PV’s much easier.
In lands of little or no rain, dust accumulates on near horizontal glass obstructing (somewhat) sunlight.
Because my solar array is on a machine shed roof-top
I need an extension handled squeegee device for cleaning. I’m fond of comparing that job to climbing
a 100+ foot tower to do a complicated repair on a many moving parts wind turbine.
truebeliever on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 7:53 pm
There was a post on The Oil Drum about a year ago where someone calculated the amount of just infrastructure it would cost to produce GigaJoules of electricity from PV in an amount sufficient to supply us all (e.g. cover a section of Nevada) – infrastructure such as framework for holding the PVs off the ground, etc. With some napkin calculations, it became quickly obvious that the world didn’t even have the production capacity for just the aluminum it would take.
Sure, PV’s a great way to go, but replacing the nukes, dams, coal/oil generation, etc., is an impossible dream today …
Arthur on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 8:22 pm
I would not worry too much about wasting space in China. The Gobi desert is 2.5 the size of Spain, that is 2.5 times the amount of space necessary to replace the entire current energy production on the planet with solar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_Desert
Kenz300 on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 9:23 pm
The transition to alternative energy sources keeps growing and growing and growing around the world…
Solar Costs and Grid Prices On a Collision Course
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/07/solar-costs-and-grid-prices-on-a-collision-course
rollin on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 9:26 pm
Hey bobingalong, who cares if there is shading behind the panels? Only way those spaces would make sense is if they were tracking arrays.
GregT on Wed, 17th Jul 2013 9:36 pm
When China figures out a way to synthesize potable water from electricity, only then will this endevour make good sense.
I suppose the general population could ‘look’ at pictures of water on their mobile devices, but somehow I don’t think it will have quite the same effect………….