China’s new target for solar power has global implications for a world struggling with climate change. In May, the central government set a target of 70 gigawatt (GW) of solar photovoltaic power plants by 2017. Solar hit 20 GW in China last year, when the world set a new solar power record, adding 39 GW. Solar’s global growth averaged 48% annually between 2009 and last year, more than double that of wind power. Surging orders will fill excess capacity and restore balance sheets. More factories and research into better solar cells by Chinese manufacturers is the likely result. In the medium term solar prices will continue falling, performance will rise, and profits may pick up. But the revenues of grid companies could face pressure as rooftop solar installations reduce the demand for power from far-off generators. More solar and wind power will also require the laying of new power lines, such as the ultra-high-voltage network being built in China. China’s rooftop, or distributed, solar target of for this year is 8 GW out of a total of 14 GW. Distributed solar can be more efficient than far-flung large power plants because power is produced near where people need it. All else being equal, more distributed solar points to a smaller grid, plus lower carbon emissions and cleaner air, the South China Morning Post reports.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a pricing scheme for offshore wind power projects with no-bid contracts that will be in operation before 2017. The on-grid price (tax-included) for intertidal wind power projects is CNY0.75 per kilowatt-hour, while that for coastal schemes is CNY0.85 per kWh. For projects to be put into operation after 2017, the pricing scheme will be formulated separately. The new prices would give offshore projects an annual return of at least 12%. China should have 5,000 MW of offshore wind farms by the end of next year, rising to 30,000 MW by the end of 2020. The China Wind Energy Association said China installed 39 MW of new offshore wind farms last year, down 69% from 2012. The cumulative installed total was 428.8 MW at the end of last year, of which 300.5 MW were on inter-tidal shores and 128.1 MW in near-shore waters. China has the world’s fifth-largest bank of installed offshore wind farms, after Britain, Denmark, Germany and Belgium. Offshore projects cost twice as much to build as onshore ones and are more challenging technically, which means they require higher power prices to achieve the same rate of return. Offshore wind power projects set to launch this year are expected to add 1,566 megawatt (MW) of capacity, or more than three times the national total as of the end of 2013, according to the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association. The country’s offshore wind capacity was 428.6 MW at the end of 2013, less than a tenth of the government’s 5,000 MW target for 2015.

China plans to increase the subsidy on power sales by rooftop solar farm developers to state-owned power distributors by up to 55%, and compel the latter to act as an agent for collecting power bills if the developers directly sell to local customers. The consensus plan was reached after a meeting between state-backed financial institutions, bank regulators and the National Energy Administration (NEA). It is aimed at relieving financing difficulties that have hindered installations, and is pending final approval by Beijing. Currently, rooftop projects are entitled to a state subsidy of CNY0.42 per kilo-watt-hour (kWh) of output, on top of whatever prices developers manage to get from end-users. If the developers fail to sell all of their output to local users, local power grid operators are obliged to buy the remainder at prices that typically vary from CNY0.35 to CNY0.45 per kWh. The new policy will allow the rooftop projects developers to receive a total revenue of CNY0.95 to CNY1 per kWh, matching that of ground-mounted projects. This means the rooftop subsidy could rise by 31% to 55% from the current CNY0.42, sharply boosting viability. The NEA has set a 14 GW target for installations of solar farms this year, up from 12.9 GW last year. Some 8 GW of the target is for rooftop projects, and 6 GW for ground-mounted ones, mostly in remote areas. However, less than 2 GW of rooftop projects were installed in the first five months of this year as banks were reluctant to lend, the South China Morning Post reports.

The Chinese government has agreed to raise investment in biomass technology. It plans to finish 120 biomass-fired boiler demonstration projects by 2015. Biomass is defined as biological material－generally farm or forestry byproducts－that can be used directly via combustion to produce heat or indirectly after conversion to various forms of biofuel. The pilot projects, valued at CNY5 billion, will be built across the country but with a focus on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, which are noted for concentrations of heavy smog and haze. The projects’ completion will provide energy equivalent to 1.2 million metric tons of coal and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 5 million tons. The program aims to build an entire industrial chain from fuel collection to biomass furnace construction. Simon Parker, CEO of DP CleanTech, an international biomass solutions provider and a newcomer in China’s biomass market, said biomass will play a bigger role in the renewable agenda in China. He said the natural resource that comes from an estimated 800 million tons of agricultural and forestry waste is the biggest available fuel source in the world today. “The potential in China is massive, and the only place with similar potential is Brazil,” he said, forecasting a continued growth rate of 40% to 50% in China’s biomass market in the next five years, the China Daily reports.

A Sino-Dutch consortium is spending tens of millions of U.S. dollars on a feasibility study for a project to harness tidal energy to produce clean power. Eight Dutch engineering firms and university institutes have joined Chinese industry and academic partners in the venture. The project, worth up to USD15 billion, would also need to have its environmental impact assessed. It has the potential to help China lessen its dependence on foreign suppliers and increase production of clean energy to help cut air pollution. The venture carries immense risks as its viability can only be proven if a full-scale project is built. “The biggest challenge is that the project must be done on a big scale in order to be economically viable,” Rob Steijn, one of the inventors of the technology. He is Director of the River, Coast and Sea Department at Amsterdam-based infrastructure design and consulting firm Arcadis, which plays a coordinating role in the consortium led by infrastructure design and construction firm Strukton.

Steijn said that after 30 months of studies, the partners are confident in the science and believe a project between Shantou in Guangdong and Xiamen in Fujian has higher feasibility compared with an alternative project at the entrance to the Bohai Sea in the north. He said the southern project has 5,000 megawatt (MW) of annual generating capacity and is estimated to cost USD15 billion to build. It is about 10% more expensive than a Chinese nuclear power plant – among the most expensive – on a per MW basis. Analysts said this means the tidal project will need greater state subsidies than offshore wind turbines, already among the most expensive to produce and turn a profit. The Dutch consortium has spent about USD4 million on a three-year preliminary feasibility study that will be completed at the end of this year. The Dutch government contributed USD1.27 million. “Mass commercialization of tidal power is very far away, maybe it will happen by 2050,” said Lin Boqiang of the Xiamen University Center for China Energy Economics Research. “Chinese research institutions may be looking into its feasibility out of our nation’s desire to enhance energy security and tackle pollution, but the cost-competitiveness thus far is highly doubtful,” the South China Morning Post reports.