China

The destiny of China's power sector is looking brighter than ever thanks to a recent surge in popularity of renewable energy sources, in particular solar power. It seems the time has come for China's 1.3 billion people to slide on a pair of sunglasses as China prepares itself for a solar revolution. In China's never-ending pursuit for renewables, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is setting bold targets for renewables to make-up as much as 10% and 15% of China's power sector by 2010 and 2020. China, which is ranked as one of the biggest solar power users in the world, debuted its biggest solar PV station (1.046MW capacity) in 2007 on Shanghai's Chongming Island. China's newest development is a 10MW solar PV station scheduled to begin operations in 2009. The NDRC is also planning to build a 50MW building-integrated PV system and a 20MW large-scale PV power station for a 2010 start. In 2020, China will install a 1GW BIPV and 200MW large-scale PV station. China's exciting new solar developments should bring it up to speed with the rest of the world, just in time for solar to become competitive on a global scale in 2015. The destiny of China's solar power movement however depends on the continued support of the government. "The installed capacity of solar power would grow by at least 25 per cent each year in the next three to five years as a result of government support and the nation's growing awareness," said Carrie Liu from JP Morgan. In terms of solar wafer and module production, the world is poising itself for a Chinese domination thanks to China's low labour and electricity costs. Module production is one aspect in which China is leading the way, with LDK planning to have a 15,000 tonne polysilicon capacity by 2009. Three major PV cell/module companies in China, CEEG, Yingli Green Energy and Suntech, recently announced a 1.5MKW capacity expansion. The scale of China's wafer, cell and module capabilities is clearly China's best weapon in its pursuit to stay one step ahead of the competition in Asia's solar power industry.