Yingli Solar And China National Nuclear Corp Team Up On 500 MW Of New Solar

In an interesting move, Yingli Solar and China Rich Energy — a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) — announced a joint venture which will distribute 500 MW worth of solar projects across China.

Liansheng Miao, Chairman and CEO of Yingli Solar, told PV Magazine that government policy will help increase short-term distributed solar projects across the country.

Meanwhile, chairman of the joint venture and deputy manager of China Rich Energy Hongchao Xu, pointed to increasing its sustainable development portfolio, despite its ongoing support of nuclear energy.

“The cooperation with Yingli Solar reflects our strategy and is in line with the strategic targets of the Chinese government to promote ecological civilization and sustainable development. We believe we will make a powerful combination and mutually beneficial cooperation by leveraging advantages of both companies,” he said.

Overall, the move is a smart one on two fronts.

One, continue to help support China’s solar energy goals as it gears off of fossil fuels. With 9GW installed in the third quarter of 2013, big projects will certainly help China’s installed solar projections of 12GW this year, an increase of 20%.

Two, the Fukushima, nuclear disaster shows nuclear energy is not the safest towards human health and food. While CNNC has acknowledged they view nuclear as their main energy mix, moving slowly towards solar energy is a start and allows the nuclear giant to diversify its energy portfolio.