China’s grid-connected installation grew significantly in 2016. According to the relevant data published by the National Energy Administration (NEA), the amount of grid-connected installation in 2016 increased 81.6% from 2015. The cumulative amount of grid-connected installation also surpassed 77GW. China continues to take the lead. After China changed places with Germany and became the nation with the highest cumulative grid-connected installation in late-2015, no one could catch up with the PV development of China. According to the national electric power industry summary statistics, China added 34.24GW of grid-connected installation in 2016, up 81.6% from 2015, with the cumulative grid-connected installation reaching 77.42GW. From the relevant data in the national electric power industry summary statistics, we can see that the growth range for grid-connected PV installation is the highest among other energies. Next is nuclear power, with the annual growth rate reaching 23.8%; third is wind power, an annual increase of 13.2%. Firepower and hydropower saw an annual growth rate of 5.3% and 3.9%, respectively. 105GW is at hand NEA has set a PV installation target of “more than 105GW” during the 13th five-year plan. Although they said this is a basis instead of a development ceiling, compared to the recent light abandoned and subsidy allocation problems, the actual installation scale that can be accepted till 2020 remains unclear. If 105GW is the threshold, the remaining amount of grid-connected installation will be less than 30GW from 2017 to 2020. But judging from the PV targets that have been proposed by China so far – a total of 18.1GW for ground-mounted power plants and the “Top Runner Program,” additional target of 6GW in late-2016, and the 5.6GW for the “PV Poverty Alleviation Project, these are already close to 30GW. Besides, the target for distributed generation (DG) installation is not included in it. It’s almost certain that the amount of grid-connected installation will surpass 105GW during the 13th five-year plan. The Chinese government has clarified in the 13th five-year plan that they will promote DG installation to balance regional development. In addition, PV power generation will have to reach grid parity in 2020 so that PV will gradually get rid of its reliance on subsidies. Yet, the most difficult part is how to ensure the stable growth of the industry while giving out subsidies before it all comes to reality. (Photo Credit: Chinese cell maker; Source: CMIG)
