China
Situation as of 2009
Backed by the Chinese government’s total stimulus package of RMB 4 trillion ($585bn), Chinese businesses are now among the top producers of electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and energy efficient appliances, according to a report released last month by London-based The Climate Group. In March 2009, the China government introduced the “Solar Roofs Plan” for promoting the application of solar PV building. The Ministry of Finance in July re-introduced the “Golden Sun Project” with more specific details of the related policy.
The policy provides that the grid-connected photovoltaic power generation project, the state will in principle by photovoltaic power generation system and its supporting transmission and distribution projects to give 50% of the total investment subsidies. The subsidy will rise to 70% for solar power systems in remote areas that are not currently connected to the grid. Projects with a minimum capacity of 500MW would be eligible for the related incentive. All such financial incentive schemes boosts most of the new development in China solar market, such as the new thin film solar plant of Anwell Technologies and Tianwei, as well as the contract signed by LDK solar to install up to 500 MW of capacity of PV stations over the next five years in Jiangsu Province of China.
China has set a fixed feed-in tariff for new onshore wind power plants in a move that will help struggling project operators to realise profits. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s economic planning agency, announced at the weekend four categories of onshore wind projects, which according to region will be able to apply for the tariffs. Areas with better wind resources will have lower feed-in tariffs, while those with lower outputs will be able to access more generous tariffs.
The tariffs per kilowatt hour are set at 0.51 yuan (US 0.075, GBP 0.05), 0.54 yuan, 0.58 yuan and 0.61 yuan. These represent a significant premium on the average rate of 0.34 yuan per kilowatt hour paid to coal-fired electricity generators.
However, there still is no clarity on Feed-in-Tariffs for domestic installations within China.