China cuts DG category in 110-GW PV target

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has decided to omit the distributed generation (DG) category from its recently announced 110-GW official solar power target for 2020.

The preliminary version of the 13th five-year plan on energy, which was released by the industry body in November, envisaged at least 60 GW of distributed solar arrays at the end of the decade. Now, the official goals of the country have been divided simply in 105 GW of photovoltaics (PV) and 5 GW of solar thermal power plants.

In terms of PV generation costs, the plan is to reduce them by at least 50% over five years in order to achieve grid-parity with conventional energy sources. The target for solar thermal power generation is below CNY 0.8 (USD 0.12/EUR 0.11) per kWh, according to the document.

The goal of NEA’s new strategy is to fight the extremely high solar curtailment rates in the country’s western parts. Apart from lowering its 2020 capacity target, it has granted preferential status for solar deployment to 11 Chinese provinces. It is also reducing further feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) for the sector.

Before deciding to cut back on quantity in favour of quality, China had announced official plans to have 150 GW of solar capacity in 2020.

(CNY 1.0 = USD 0.144/EUR 0.138)

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