e-magazine
The Hot Zone
China's newly announced air defense identification zone over the East China Sea aims to shore up national security
Current Issue
· Table of Contents
· Editor's Desk
· Previous Issues
· Subscribe to Mag
Subscribe Now >>
Expert's View
World
Nation
Business
Finance
Market Watch
Legal-Ease
North American Report
Forum
Government Documents
Expat's Eye
Health
Science/Technology
Lifestyle
Books
Movies
Backgrounders
Special
Photo Gallery
Blogs
Reader's Service
Learning with
'Beijing Review'
E-mail us
RSS Feeds
PDF Edition
Web-magazine
Reader's Letters
Make Beijing Review your homepage
Hot Links

cheap eyeglasses
Market Avenue
eBeijing

Business
Print Edition> Business
UPDATED: March 16, 2007 NO.12 MAR.22, 2007
Light the Green Torch
The National Stadium is just the beginning of expanded use of solar energy in China
By WANG JUN
Share

According to Richel, in addition to labor costs that can be less than $200 per month per worker, Chinese solar companies also benefit from lower sales, the cost of doing business, research and development, peripheral costs, and the tax rate. There is also an expanding solar manufacturing equipment industry that provides equipment at a fraction of the cost of equipment made overseas. Also there is a growing list of lower cost wet-chemistry suppliers for slurry and aluminum paste. Chinese manufacturing lines tend to be more labor intensive and use more domestic equipment, requiring substantially lower capital expenditure. In particular, some Chinese module lines do not run automated assembly equipment and instead favor an all-labor approach. The only equipment required are laminators and module testers.

Weak but potential domestic demand

The Chinese PV industry is completely focused on the export of its products. The domestic Chinese PV market is still very small and grew only by 5 percent in 2005. However, according to the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), annual installations should reach 130 MW by 2010. The largest market share is within the rural PV application sector, which is 43 percent.

The market of solar energy in China is likely to expand due to the encouragement of the Chinese Government. In 2005 the Chinese renewable energy law was adopted. According to the law, power grid operators should buy renewable-source-generated power at government directed prices. The extra costs incurred by this will be shared throughout the overall power network. Pichel believes that the law is expected to generate 500 MW of annual capacity by 2010, 3 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, and 60 GW by 2050. Western China is an ideal location for the development of solar energy given its 9-11 hours of sunshine per day. Furthermore, many areas in western China are off-grid, and the government has an aggressive rural electrification initiative of about 300 MW. While details on the amount of subsidy have not been communicated, three large 30-MW solar power projects are planned for 2006-07. The prospect of large solar demand in China is likely to only benefit the country's original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or global players with a manufacturing presence or joint investment in China.

In the next decade, this market will change from smaller systems to larger grid-connected power generating systems, including larger PV power plants of 10 MW in desert areas and rooftops systems like the 100,000-roof program in Shanghai.

Of course the Chinese solar industry itself is confident about a future domestic market, so are some local governments that are rendering supports to new initiatives aiming to boom the domestic market. Wei Qidong, Secretary-General of the Energy Research Association of Jiangsu Province, once explained that the Association has developed a roadmap for PV development. PV industry revenues in 2006 reached around 1 billion euro, but are likely to hit 10 billion within five years in this region. The Jiangsu provincial government is working on the first steps of domestic market development with a 10,000-roof program. And it has started discussions with energy utilities for a feed-in tariff incentive for PV applications. Wei sees a bright future for the PV industry in Jiangsu, with research and development plans focused on cell efficiency improvement, concentrator PV systems and thin film technologies.

   Previous   1   2   3   Next  



 
Top Story
-Protecting Ocean Rights
-Partners in Defense
-Fighting HIV+'s Stigma
-HIV: Privacy VS. Protection
-Setting the Tone
Most Popular
 
About BEIJINGREVIEW | About beijingreview.com | Rss Feeds | Contact us | Advertising | Subscribe & Service | Make Beijing Review your homepage
Copyright Beijing Review All right reserved