Multiple policies paved the way for a new transition in the photovoltaic industry

In this cold winter, China's photovoltaic industry welcomes the turning point.

On February 19, the State Council held an executive meeting to study and determine the policies and measures to promote the healthy development of the photovoltaic industry.

The meeting held that China's photovoltaic industry has developed rapidly in recent years and a relatively complete photovoltaic manufacturing industry system has been formed. The current major problems are: a serious overcapacity, over-reliance on external demand, and general business difficulties. However, the photovoltaic industry is a strategic emerging industry. The development of the photovoltaic industry is of great significance to adjusting the energy structure, promoting the reform of energy production and consumption methods, and promoting the construction of ecological civilization. The meeting proposed that, in accordance with the ideas of innovation of institutional mechanisms, improvement of policies and measures, expansion of consumer markets, regulation of market order, promotion of industrial restructuring, and reduction of power generation costs, overall consideration should be given to comprehensive consideration in order to increase industrial competitiveness.

The support policies have been launched one after another. The policy information to support the photovoltaic industry has been gradually introduced. The total installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in the 12th Five-Year Plan has also been raised. A series of supportive policies such as photovoltaics to the countryside will also be gradually launched.

The recent measures introduced by the relevant ministries and companies have long attracted attention from all parties.

On October 26, National Grid held a press conference to strengthen the distributed photovoltaic power generation and grid-connected services, and proposed that in the future, it will provide system program development, grid detection and commissioning, and other full-process services for qualified distributed photovoltaic projects without any fees. The excess power was purchased in full. This action is referred to in the industry as "free access to the Internet."

The website of the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on December 11 the list of the second batch of Golden Sun demonstration projects in 2012. The Ministry of Finance website also announced recently that in order to promote the healthy development of the photovoltaic industry, the central government recently allocated 7 billion yuan of funds to support the demonstration of 3157 megawatts of photovoltaic power generation applications. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is leading a plan to develop a theme “Photovoltaic Going to the Countryside” to promote large-scale photovoltaic power generation in rural areas, and the total installed capacity of the 12th Five-Year Photovoltaic Power Generation may be increased to 40GW.

Turning to the Chinese PV industry, which accounts for 50% of the world's production capacity in the domestic market, 90% of the products were exported to Europe before last year. After Europe and the United States set up trade barriers for Chinese PV products, the opening of China's domestic PV application market was regarded as the key to the rescue of China's PV companies. Distributed PV installation applications are highly expected.

Wu Dacheng, secretary general of the Photovoltaic Committee of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, said that the government is currently drawing photovoltaic applications through multiple projects. Among them, only distributed photovoltaic power generation may exceed 20 GW by 2015, and the cumulative installed capacity in 2015 is expected to reach 40. Giva. Wu reached an estimate that the installed capacity of photovoltaic systems in the next five years and ten years will greatly exceed the current total goals.

According to Wu Dacheng, the regulatory authorities are working out three important detailed measures for the photovoltaic industry: “Distributed Power Generation Management Approach”, “Guidelines for Promoting Photovoltaic Development” and “Distribution Power Generation Demonstration Zone Implementation Measures and Standards for Electricity Price Subsidy”. All three methods will give the photovoltaic industry support in policy.

With regard to subsidy funds, in addition to the 7 billion yuan allocated by the central government, 3157 megawatts of photovoltaic power generation demonstrations are supported. In 2012, the central government allocated a total of 13 billion yuan in funds, and the total scale of domestic applications supporting photovoltaic power generation reached 5,200 megabytes. watt.

It takes time to get out of the dilemma and it is still a time of freezing. The plight of China's photovoltaic industry stems from the bitter consequences of years of unorderly development and blind expansion.

Since the introduction of photovoltaic grid-connected policies including the "100,000-kilo Rooftop Plan" in Germany in 2004, the export of photovoltaic modules in China has started to proliferate, and disorderly development has begun. With the blind support of local governments, China's photovoltaic industry has entered the market. Fast lane and out of control. China's photovoltaic industry, which was rushing all the way, did not stop in the face of the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. Under the “four trillion” stimulus plan and the central and local strategic emerging industries revitalization plan, in just a few years, more than 300 cities in China announced their commitment to the development of the photovoltaic industry, and more than 100 cities will build photovoltaics. Industry Base. However, 2011 is a turning point in the photovoltaic industry. With Germany and Italy cutting subsidies for photovoltaic power generation, polysilicon prices have dropped sharply since May, dropping rapidly from 700,000 yuan per ton to 210,000 to 250,000 yuan, a drop of nearly 70%. The consequences of overcapacity began to appear. The capacity and demand ratio in the photovoltaic industry has risen from 41:16.7 in 2010 to 63:21 at the time. In addition, the United States and Europe have started a “double counter” investigation of China’s photovoltaic industry. This is tantamount to a fatal blow to the Chinese PV industry, which relies heavily on exports. On the one hand, it has long been a surplus of production capacity. On the other hand, it is the ever-shrinking export market and the great trading boom. As of December 2012, the price of PV modules has dropped from US$3.8/watt before 2008 to the current US$0.6/watt.

China's photovoltaic industry is in a mess. According to statistics from China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association Silicon Industry Branch, three of the seven polycrystalline silicon companies listed on the A-share market have stopped production. From a national point of view, among the 43 polysilicon companies that have already put into production, only 7 to 8 companies are still in production. The rest have closed production lines and the production rate has exceeded 80%.

"The difficulties brought about by the blind expansion in recent years must be digested. Even if there are national support policies, many companies will inevitably be eliminated. It will take time for China's photovoltaic industry to get out of trouble." China Renewable Energy Society Wu Dacheng, secretary general of the photovoltaic professional committee, said.