Tibet’s solar plant set to ease shortages
Apr-28-2011 By : agxadmin
The largest solar power plant in Tibet will become operational in May to help ease the region’s power shortages. The 30-megawatt solar photovoltaic generation project in Xigaze prefecture, about 3 kilometers north-west of Tibet’s second largest city Xigaze, is located 3,895 meters above sea level. The project would cost CNY800 million, funded solely by Linuo Power Group, a leading provider of solar photovoltaic power generation systems based in Shandong province. Construction of the first phase, costing CNY249 million and covering 30 hectares, began in May last year. It will generate up to 20.23 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
China mulling tariff surcharge on renewable energy
By : agxadmin
China is expected to raise the tariff surcharge on power generated from renewable energy sources by 50% over two years to encourage investment in wind and solar projects, according to the China Electricity Regulatory Commission. Grid operators now charge CNY0.004 per kilowatt hour more when selling power from renewable sources than conventional thermal power. The fee charged could raise about CNY10 billion per year, only enough to cover 70% of the funds needed to subsidize clean energy producers in China in 2010, Huang Shaozhong, Vice Director of the Price and Financial Supervision Department under the CERC said. This subsidy will grow as China aims to raise the share of non-fossil fuels to 15% of the total energy mix by 2020, Huang said. China may raise the surcharge to CNY0.006 per kWh this year or in 2012. The government last raised the surcharge in 2009 by doubling it. China’s renewable energy law, passed in 2006, requires power distributors to buy all the power generated by renewable energy projects ― more expensive and usually unstable ― but also allows them to charge additional fees when they sell the power.
China to boost use of solar power
By : agxadmin
China is likely to have 10 gigawatt (GW) of solar power capacity by 2015 from the current 1 GW, doubling its existing target amid rising doubts about the safety ofpower. The country may double its target for solar power capacity to 10 GW in 2015 from the 5 GW originally planned. China is expected to announce a new five-year target for the solar industry soon. China consolidated its position as the No 1 country in clean-energy investment in 2010, with USD54.4 billion flowing into the sector, up 39% from the 2009 level, according to a report by the U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, non-profit organization. In 2009, China overtook the United States as the No 1 nation for installed clean-energy capacity. According to the latest report, ho’s Winning the Clean Energy Race, China led the world in asset financing, with USD47.3 billion in private investments directed toward installation of clean-energy generation capacity. The solar power sector attracted 6.3% of the total investment in clean energy last year. China’s installation of less than 1 GW of solar energy capacity demonstrates that most of its production is for the export market. In contrast, 17 GW of wind energy was installed in China in 2010, helping the nation move quickly toward its 2020 target for installing 150 GW of wind energy, the report said. Renewable-energy capacity reached 103 GW in China. “The new target could be a relief for China’s overcapacity photovoltaic (PV) industry,” said Li Shengman, Industry Analyst at China Investment Consulting. The policy could push up the price of polysilicon, a raw material for making solar panels, passing on more pressure to the down-stream manufacturers, he noted. China is home to the world’s top solar makers, including Suntech Power Holdings and Trina Solar, all of whom have focused on the overseas markets while expecting a domestic market take-off, the China Daily reports.
Solargiga Energy to boost exports
By : agxadmin
Solargiga Energy aims to source half of its sales from overseas markets this year – up from 40% last year, partly owing to higher demand from nuclear crisis-hit Japan. Demand from Japan would rise because the earthquake and nuclear crisis had led to the shutdown of nuclear power plants, whose capacity would need to be replaced by alternative energies, said Solargiga CEO Xu Youyuan. CLSA Securities Solar Sector Analyst Charles Yonts estimated the Japanese government might subsidize the installation of an additional 1,000 megawatt of solar panels to help combat power supply shortages. Following Japan’s nuclear disaster, Italy had delayed this year’s subsidy cut by three months, and its proposed cap on the output capacity of solar panels to be subsidized in future years looked increasingly unlikely to be realized, even though subsidies for each panel would be cut, Xu said. Solargiga posted a net profit of CNY214 million for last year, compared to a loss of CNY106 million in 2009, as demand recovered strongly after the global financial crisis that had reduced financing available for solar projects. Strong demand owing to rapidly falling panel and component prices saw the Liaoning-based company bring forward its plant expansion plans, despite volatilities brought by uncertainties in solar energy subsidy policies in major markets. The company originally planned to bring on stream a mono-crystalline wafer production line with an annual capacity of 200 MW by 2013, but had decided to do so by this end of this year. The capacity addition is taking place in Qinghai, where Solargiga has a 51% stake in a joint venture plant. “For multi-crystalline wafers, we originally planned to build annual capacity of 200 MW this year and raise it to 500 MW by 2013, but since we have more orders, we must complete the expansion by the end of this year,” Solargiga’s CEO said. The expedited plan means Solargiga will more than double capacity of plants it has invested in from 600 MW to 1,300 MW this year, the South China Morning Post reports.
CDB powers China’s clean-energy success
By : agxadmin
China Development Bank (CDB) agreed last year to lend CNY232 billion to Chinese companies in the wind and solar power industry – 28% of its total lending. CDB, which has almost twice the assets of the World Bank, is using finance to take on America’s expertise in order to dominate a market both nations say is critical to their future. Chinese solar-panel makers, such as LDK Solar, were the biggest loan recipients and last year supplied more than half the global market, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In addition to the CDB loans, state and private interests sank USD54.4 billion into China’s clean-energy companies last year. In the U.S., USD34 billion was invested, putting it behind Germany’s USD41.2 billion, too. “The danger for the U.S. is that by the time it wakes up, in place of the levy it currently pays to oil despots, it will pay a levy to overseas clean-energy companies,” said New Energy Finance’s Michael Liebreich. The CDB made a CNY35.3 billion profit in 2010.
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