2016 Photovoltaics: Pursuing Quality Improvement and Efficiency

North Star Solar Photovoltaic Network News: Although a few equipment manufacturing companies have not yet fully emerged from difficulties in the past year of 2015, and although the problem of light abandonment in some regions still exists this year, after turning the last page of 2015, the entire industry still showed more warmth in this winter.
How will this warmth continue before the arrival of spring in 2016? At the just held 2016 National Energy Work Conference, words such as "significantly increasing the proportion of non fossil energy consumption" and "vigorously developing non fossil energy" were repeatedly mentioned to inspire the entire solar power generation industry, and also filled people with hope for the beginning year of the 13th Five Year Plan.
Photovoltaic installed capacity exceeds 15 million kilowatts
During the 12th Five Year Plan period, the installed capacity of solar power generation in China increased 168 times, making it the type with the largest growth rate among all clean energy sources. According to the latest statistics, by the end of 2015, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in China will reach around 43 million kilowatts, and the total installed capacity of renewable energy generation will reach around 480 million kilowatts, further optimizing the energy structure. At the 2016 National Energy Work Conference, a new target of adding more than 15 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power generation capacity this year was proposed. This number has slightly decreased compared to 2015. In March last year, the National Energy Administration issued a notice on the implementation plan for photovoltaic power generation construction in 2015, proposing a target of 17.8 gigawatts of new photovoltaic installed capacity. On September 28th last year, the National Energy Administration issued a notice on increasing the construction scale of photovoltaic power stations in some regions in 2015, requiring an increase of 5.3 million kilovolt photovoltaic power station construction scale, which is 30% higher than the original target and reaches 23.1 million kilowatts, doubling from 2014.
However, due to the slow progress of distributed development in the eastern region, severe abandonment of solar power in the western region, unstable power grid policies, expectations of reduced subsidy electricity prices, and inactive financial investment, China added 7.73 million kilowatts of new photovoltaic power generation capacity in the first half of last year, only achieving 33% of the annual target. As of the end of October last year, the statistical data of newly installed photovoltaic capacity in China was 9.9 million kilowatts. Although there has been a similar year-end rush and the final annual new installation data has not been released, the industry generally believes that achieving the 2015 target for new installations is no longer possible. "From the current development trend of the photovoltaic industry, the scale of installed capacity is no longer the most important thing. Many enterprises have also realized this, and the entire industry has shifted from simply pursuing quantity to pursuing quality and efficiency." Meng Xiangan, Deputy Director of the China Renewable Energy Society, said in an interview with reporters. The biggest task in the current industry is to solve the most urgent problems such as power curtailment and subsidy arrears, so the 15 million kilowatts of new installed capacity proposed at this meeting is also expected. Of course, based on last year's situation, it is also possible to add new installed capacity indicators in a situation where the installation situation is good.
Promote the construction of solar thermal power generation demonstration projects
Another important signal at this energy work conference is strong support for the solar thermal power generation industry. The meeting proposed to promote the construction of the first batch of solar thermal power generation demonstration projects with a scale of around 1 million kilowatts, which has been a long-awaited event in the solar thermal industry. Compared to the rapid development of the photovoltaic power generation industry in recent years, the pace of development of photothermal power generation has slowed down significantly.
The installation targets for solar thermal power proposed in the 12th Five Year Plan are 1 million kilowatts and 3 million kilowatts by 2015 and 2020, respectively. Compared to the installation targets of millions of kilowatts in the photovoltaic industry, solar thermal power is only niche. However, even the installation target of one million kilowatts is already difficult in practical development. As a relatively stable and environmentally friendly new energy power production technology, solar thermal power generation has become a strategic emerging industry that many countries around the world focus on supporting its development. And domestic practitioners are also hoping that this industry can accumulate and develop after several years of accumulation.
As early as the "National Medium - and Long Term Science and Technology Development Plan Outline (2006-2020)" issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2006 and the "Renewable Energy Medium - and Long Term Development Plan" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2007, China clearly listed solar thermal power generation as a key and priority development direction.
In November 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission released the "National Climate Change Response Plan (2014-2020)", which once again mentioned the need to encourage the implementation of solar thermal power generation demonstration projects. The plan points out nine main measures to control greenhouse gas emissions, and solar thermal energy is included as one of the action measures to optimize the energy structure. Why is this industry hesitant to move forward? There is no clear electricity pricing policy, no necessary policy support, and some people have questioned whether China's climate conditions are suitable for the development of solar thermal power generation. In addition, after years of development, the question of which technology is more in line with China's national conditions and has more market competitiveness for solar thermal power generation is also an urgent question to be answered.
Whether it is tower type, slot type, disc type, or Fresnel type, ultimately, we should choose a solar thermal power generation technology path that is suitable for China's national conditions.