China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) plans to carry out pilot programs for rooftop distributed photovoltaic (PV) panels across the country, in order to accelerate the development of rooftop distributed PVs, as reported by National Business Daily on June 23. NEA mentioned that the country had huge potential for the development and construction of rooftop distributed PVs given its widespread and extensive roof resources. According to the notice, the bureau encouraged counties, districts, or cities with abundant roof resources and sufficient power consumption capacity to apply for the pilot program. For pilots, the minimum area ratio for PV installations is 50% for party and government organs, 40% for schools and hospitals, 30% for industrial and commercial buildings, and 20% for rural residential buildings.

This pilot program will be conducive to achieving China’s carbon neutrality goal, while also contributing to its rural development. According to estimates made by CICC , China’s urban and rural rooftop distributed PV developable space is about 5,800GW. In addition, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) can contribute around 2,200GW. Assuming an 80% development ratio, these two parts can contribute a total of 6,400GW of installed PV capacity, which exceeds over half of the installed PV capacity needed in 2060. In terms of rural development, this program will enable rural families equipped with rooftop distributed PV panels to sell excess electricity to the State Grid, giving them an estimated income of RMB600 per month. Industrial and commercial companies that have large electricity consumption demands will also benefit from the program, as installing rooftop PVs will lower their electricity costs and enable them to sell electricity to increase corporate revenue.

Sources:

http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-06-23/1806152.html

http://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202106251973187793.html

https://m.gelonghui.com/p/471940