The 2015 solar PV installation target for China’s 12th Five-Year Plan for renewable energy has been increased to 15GW, 50% higher than the previous target. According to China media, this announcement was made by China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Industry sources indicated this move is to increase domestic demand while China-based solar firms face dumping charges by Europe, the US and India.
According to China news media, the China government plans to construct 200 green energy demonstration counties by 2015 to encourage villages to use renewable energy sources.
Industry sources indicated the revisions to the renewable energy policies by China’s government are due to the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe taken up by the US government. Europe and India are likely to take similar actions against China makers. This will limit the business opportunities for China-based solar firms in the international market. Hence the government has to create domestic demand to support these solar firms.
China’s 2011 domestic installation demand has been estimated at 2-3GW and by 2012, the demand should be around 5GW. Industry sources pointed out that there are still 10-20 million people who do not have access to electricity, hence by increasing solar PV installations can solve such problems.
Nevertheless, the cost of using solar PV system is still higher than the traditional sources for electricity generation. Furthermore, grid connection is also a problem that continues to exist in China, added industry sources.
