China unveils measures to limit solar support

China on Friday issued regulations that could stem the national photovoltaic (PV) market.

According to a notice published by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the National Energy Administration, there will be no target for the construction of utility-scale PV power plants in 2018 and regional authorities should suspend arrangements for plants that require any state subsidies.

With respect to distributed PV projects, a target of 10 GW was announced, applying to projects connected to the grid before May 31.

The notice further says that local authorities are encouraged to support solar development based on their policies, without state subsidies. In addition, the document reduces feed-in tariffs (FiT) for new distributed PV projects by CNY 0.05 (USD 0.008/EUR 0.007) to CNY 0.32 per kWh.

In 2017, China installed 53 GW of solar, including 19 GW in the distributed generation segment, according to EnergyTrend data.

The agencies said the notice is aimed at promoting a sustainable development of the PV sector, improving the quality of development and speeding up the retreat of subsidies.

(CNY 1 = USD 0.156/EUR 0.133)

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