Only 188 MW Of Distributed Solar PV Installed In 1st Quarter In China
It was just a few days ago that we were reporting on China’s ambitious new solar energy goals — goals which would see China’s installed solar capacity triple in just 3 years, up to 70,000 MW. Impressive ambitions.
But those ambitions certainly aren’t reflected in the most recent figures out of the country, figures that show that during the whole first quarter of 2014, only 188 MW of distributed solar PV were installed. Not exactly inspiring numbers.
Given that the country’s goal for 2014 is to install at least 8 GW of distributed solar power, 188 MW isn’t exactly a great start. There’s certainly still time to reach the goal, though, so I guess that we’ll just have to wait and see what the rest of the year is like before making a judgement.
To provide more information on the previously mentioned new goals (7 GW by 2017) — the push for a higher solar capacity goal is part of the new “war on smog” campaign that the country is pursuing. This is an easy-to-understand campaign given the country’s tremendous and well documented air-pollution problems.
The campaign is, at least partly, intended to deal with the burgeoning health crisis associated with the pollution, and the coal-fired power plants that release much of it. Though, how effective the methods being used by the government in the country actually are remains to be seen.
Other actions that are part of the “war” are: the new and growing incentives for EVs, stricter fuel economy standards, and, of course, heavy subsidies for the renewable energy industries of the country. Though that last part has been changing in recent days, leaving some to prosper and others to wither and fail.
Regarding the distributed solar targets, there has been much skepticism regarding China’s ability to meet the target. Utility-scale solar is one thing, but stimulating a strong rooftop solar revolution in China is another. We’ll see how things proceed.
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