In attempts to reduce the oversupply of cheap solar panels on the market, as well as provide itself with cheap, clean, renewable energy, China is installing huge numbers of solar PV farms.
In the past year and a half it has had to increase its 2015 PV target capacity 3 times, up from an initial 5GW to 21GW; the installation capacity for 2012 alone is expected to be around 7GW. If China just leaves its solar industry to develop as it is, then at its current rate it would reach over 30GW of installed capacity by 2015, and therefore it is believed that they will increase their target by another 100 percent, this time to more than 40GW by 2015.
But by increasing their 2015 target they must also increase their 2020 target. Some analysts predict that they will also double their 2020 target, from the current 50GW to a remarkable 100GW.
The Chinese government are hopeful about their solar PV installations, believing that they will offer cheaper wholesale prices, and greater energy security, than coal or gas, by the end of the decade.
In order to increase the installed by capacity by so much, in such a short period of time China will focus on large-scale, on-grid solar plants in the Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia regions, with some projects totalling more than 1,000 MW.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More