Small-scale solar plants to get subsidies

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) posted a notice on its website Wednesday saying that the government will subsidize small-scale distributed solar power plants that are connected to the grid, in a bid to support domestic clean energy use.

Local grid companies will receive the subsidy money from the central fiscal fund, then distribute it quarterly to the small-scale plants, the MOF said.

But the ministry didn't announce the level of the subsidies, saying only that more details will be released later by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's economic planner.

"I've heard that the subsidy will possibly be around 0.4 yuan ($0.07) per kilowatt-hour, which is very attractive for the solar power plants," Wang Zhixin, director of the communications department at Chinese solar panel maker Yingli Solar, told the Global Times.

Yingli used to focus on the production of photovoltaic components, but has now started exploring solar power solutions, including setting up small-scale distributed solar power plants for both individual households and factories, because "government support has boosted our enthusiasm in this sector," Wang said.

The average price of electricity for residential use ranges from 0.5 yuan to 0.8 yuan per kilowatt-hour in major cities.

By contrast, the current cost of generating power from small-scale distributed solar power plants is around 1 yuan per kilowatt-hour, Meng Xian'gan, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"Government subsidies will be very helpful for distributed solar power plants," Meng said.

The State Council held three executive meetings within the past six months to discuss solar power usage domestically, which showed that the central government is paying "unprecedented attention" to clean energy use, Meng noted.

The State Council released a guideline on July 15 for the government to subsidize distributed solar power plants in industrial parks where the price of power is very high. The guideline also set a new objective of increasing the country's total installed solar power generating capacity to more than 35 gigawatts by the end of 2015 from 8 gigawatts last year.