This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
NEWS I ROUNDUP Massive upside to Chinese solar market


THE CHINESE government’s new feed-in- tariff (FIT) incentive program is expected to give a major boost to the country’s solar industry, potentially increasing installations by a combined 1.5 gigawatts (GW) in 2011 and 2012, according to the IHS iSuppli Photovoltaics (PV) Service report IHS.


China’s PV installations previously were expected to amount to 1GW in 2011 and 1.4GW in 2012. However, the FIT could cause installations to increase by 50 percent, compared to the previous forecast in 2011 to reach 1.5 GW. Installations in 2012 then could rise by 71.4 percent compared to the preceding outlook to reach a total of 2.4GW. This will result in a 1.5GW upside for installations during the two-year period, as presented in the figure below.


“The Chinese release of its FIT is sending a positive signal to the country’s solar industry, a signal that will increase PV installations by huge margins during 2011 and 2012,” said Glenn Gu, senior analyst for photovoltaics at IHS. “The FIT has increased confidence among players in China PV by guaranteeing an ROI for many solar projects. PV companies are


expected to take advantage and accelerate solar projects and increase investments in future endeavours.”


China’s National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) released its FIT document on July 24, marking the first-ever nationwide PV FIT in the country. A FIT promotes the use of solar energy by guaranteeing that utility companies will buy excess electricity produced by solar installations at homes and businesses. This helps individuals or organizations to defray the upfront costs of investing in a PV system. Extensive use of FITs has helped Germany to become the world’s leading country for PV. Despite the impact of the NDRC move, the documentation provided seems too simple to serve as an announcement of a formal FIT scheme and leaves unanswered questions.


AEG wins Indian solar deals


AEG Power Solutions signed with Surana Venture a contract to provide complete balance of electrical systems (inverters, monitoring and measurement equipment) for a 5 MW solar power plant in the Indian state of Gujarath. Since March, AEG PS has been awarded contracts from Indian solar farm developers to provide electrical solutions for a total of 25 MW PV power plants.


The power plants are planned to be set up in different states of India, including the solar park initiated by the state of Gujarath. Gujarath state has launched a program of long term power purchase with agreements with 80 solar power project investors to commission almost 1,000 MW of generation capacity by the end of 2013. During this year already 400 to 600 MW could be installed.


The contract just signed with Surana is part of Gujarath’s ambitious project, as is the installation of 10 MW signed earlier with the NKG Infra. The four other equipment contracts signed by AEG Power Solutions, representing complete electrical balance for respectively 6,1 MW, 2 MW and two for 1 MW, are aimed to equip solar power plants in different states of India. The new inverter Protect PV.500, launched in April at Hannover fair, will be used in the two largest projects.


“Our technology has made a large part of our success. As important as this is our international standing and the product portfolio for the installation of solar power generation plants”, explains Murthy Sridhar, AEG Power Solutions India Managing Director. All contracts will be installedthis year.


“India is a strategically important market for the photovoltaic sector. We have always been aware of this and started intensifying our close cooperation with Indian companies as early as 2007”, explains Martin Sauter, Managing Director of skytron energy.


The early position adopted by skytron on the Indian market has also helped AEG Power Solutions in deploying its strategy on the sub-continent.


“India has embraced solar energy as it faces up to rising carbon emissions caused by its reliance on coal for power generation, but the driver is the search for independence as India has few resources of its own to meet its rapidly growing economy”, explains Enrique de la Cruz, Vice President of AEG Power Solutions Solar business unit. “The country announced a program to reach 20,000MW generated by solar power by 2020 and only reached 60 MW in 2009, the potential is huge.”


Issue VIII 2011 I www.solar-pv-management.com 7


The document doesn’t mention the subsidy period. Only a single FIT rate is offered for all PV projects installed in China and for all installations methods. The source of subsidy capital may not be sufficient to fund all PV installations. According to the document, capital comes from a Renewable Energy Tariff account raised from the public but the account has been in deficit since 2010, and the deficit is expected to widen. IHS predicts this account will remain in deficit until 2014 as the majority will subsidize projects, such as wind and biomass.


Finally, the document doesn’t address grid connection, which always has been a bottleneck constraining the development of renewable energy in China. The announcement of the nationwide FIT is likely to spur “solar fever” across the nation, especially in China’s western provinces. But should the grid prove unready, the FIT scheme will be meaningless, as no electricity could be transferred to the grid.


Despite these unanswered questions, the NDRC document will pave the way for a more detailed FIT program to be released in the future.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88