China, the world’s largest solar panel producer, is likely to become the largest market for solar devices in 2012 as Europe, the largest importer of Chinese panels, sees its market for the products contract. China’s capacity to generate solar power is expected to double to about 5 GW this year, according to Solarbuzz, a U.S.-based solar industry consulting firm. The firm said there was a 25 GW photovoltaic project pipeline in China as of the end of February. China’s installed solar capacity reached 2.75 GW in 2011, according to Solarbuzz. Europe accounts for more than half of China’s module market. Major solar markets including Germany, Italy, Britain and France have cut subsidies over the past year. Meanwhile, the United States has imposed duties on Chinese panels, denting the competitiveness of Chinese companies. The Chinese Ministry of Finance has issued standards for subsidies for on-grid electricity from renewable sources, including solar power. The standards specify subsidies of CNY0.01 per kWh for on-grid electricity transmitted up to 50 kilometers, rising to CNY0.02 for 50-100 km and CNY0.03 for more than 100 km. Under the government’s Five Year Plan for the Solar Industry (2011-15), the nation aims to reduce the cost of solar power to CNY0.8 per kWh by 2015 and CNY0.6 per kWh by 2020, the China Daily reports.

China invested USD45.5 billion in clean energy in 2011, less than the United States. Even so, China’s ambitious goals will continue to make it a clean-energy hub for the world, The Pew Charitable Trusts, a Washington-based research group, said. In 2011, USD48.1 billion went into clean energy in the U.S., a 44% increase from 2010, making it the country where the most money was spent in 2011. China has the capacity to generate 133 gigawatt (GW) of clean energy, accounting for 26% of the world total, including more than 64 GW of wind energy.  In 2011, the country’s investments in solar energy increased to USD11.3 billion and 2.3 GW of capacity was installed.

A bitter intellectual property dispute between AMSC, an American technology company, and Sinovel, one of China’s biggest wind turbine makers, has escalated to China’s Supreme Court. AMSC is seeking USD1.2 billion from Sinovel. The Chinese turbine maker was once AMSC’s biggest customer, accounting for 70% of revenues in late 2010. The U.S. company alleges that Sinovel made unauthorized use of proprietary turbine software code and breached its supply contracts. Sinovel has denied wrongdoing in previous statements. The dispute involves one of China’s biggest intellectual property lawsuits in terms of damages sought, and has prompted U.S. politicians including Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to raise complaints over China’s poor intellectual property protection. AMSC’s experience is seen by many foreign executives in the wind industry as a sign of the lurking dangers for foreign businesses in China. The company’s share price plunged more than 80% last year when its relationship with Sinovel turned sour. AMSC lodged an appeal with China’s Supreme Court, asking for the reversal of a decision by the Hainan Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court decision to throw out AMSC’s copyright suit against Sinovel and Sinovel’s subsidiary Guotong on the grounds that it should be covered by arbitration proceedings, the Financial Times reports.

Only one-tenth of the 500,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles China’s carmakers plan to produce by 2015 would be able to find a buyer in China unless the central government rolled out supporting policies or extra incentives to boost sales, analysts said. While sales of new-energy vehicles during the first quarter of this year exceeded those for the whole of last year, nearly 80% of the 10,202 units sold in the first three months were of conventional hybrid vehicles, which are partly fueled by petrol. Pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars accounted for only one-fifth of the sales, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). China’s car manufacturers have big plans for green vehicles. Beijing Automobile Works and Guangzhou Automotive are set to produce up to 200,000 new-energy vehicles a year by 2015, while Changan Automotives aims to make about 150,000 by 2014. “There are a lot of varieties under the umbrella of new-energy car. Among them, electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles still make up a very small portion because facilities for charging them are incomplete,” Auto Analyst Yale Zhang said. Ouyang Minggao, Director of the Automotive Safety and Energy Laboratory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said earlier this year that only 200,000 to 250,000 new-energy cars would be sold on the mainland by 2015, when they would account for only 1% of the projected total car sales that year. The Chinese government last week confirmed that the development of electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles is a priority, and set a target of producing at least 500,000 by 2015 and 5 million by 2020.

Chinese solar companies are expanding into Japan, where the solar industry is receiving more government support following the Fukushima nuclear accident. Chaorisolar Energy Science and Technology Co and Sky Solar Holdings Co plan to develop 100 megawatt (MW) of solar projects with an investment of USD93.9 million in Japan this year. Chaorisolar is a Shanghai-based maker of photovoltaic products and Sky Solar builds solar farms, where solar electricity can be generated on a large scale. The project is expected to generate gross profits equal to as much as CNY10 a watt, Chaorisolar said. Hareonsolar Technology Co also plans to establish a subsidiary in Japan, while Yingli Green Energy Holding Co recently opened a subsidiary in Tokyo, and Trina Solar also set up an office in Japan, showing the companies’ interest in the market. Suntech Power Holdings Co, which makes the most solar cells of any manufacturer in the world, moved into the Japanese market in 2006 by acquiring MSK Corp, a maker of solar equipment. “Today, we are a strong player in the Japanese solar industry with a 5% market share,” Yutaka Yamamoto, Suntech Japan President, said, and the company expects to command at least 10% of the Japanese market in 2012, when new feed-in tariffs will take effect. By 2011, Japan had 1.2 GW of solar capacity, a number expected to increase by 40% in 2012.