Small-scale solar joins the power grid

Chinese governments are creating policies that support solar energy in order to rescue domestic solar power enterprises, which have suffered big losses from anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures taken by the United States and the European Union.

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the country's largest State-owned electric utilities company, announced Friday that it will allow small-scale distributed solar power plants with installed capacities of less than six megawatts each to be connected to the grid from November 1.

Distributed solar power plants are small, scattered generators which until now provided electricity only for their own use.

The State Grid has said it will provide technological assistance for free, including testing equipment and creating integration plans, and also buy any excess electricity which is generated by the plants but not consumed.

"Connecting distributed solar electricity to the State Grid is a crucial step in supporting domestic solar energy use," Li Ying, a chief economist at the State Grid Energy Research Institute, told the Global Times Sunday.

Previously, the State Grid only connected larger-scale solar power plants, which are mainly concentrated in western areas with sufficient sunlight resources, such as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

"The cost of connecting so many distributed solar electricity plants to the grid is much higher because they are scattered everywhere and are too small-scale for maximum efficiency," Li noted.

Solar power is used on a small scale domestically, with most domestic solar products being exported to the EU and the US, mainly because the cost of solar power is much higher than that of polluting energy sources. As of August last year, large-scale centralized solar power generators sold energy at 1 yuan per kWh, whereas the average price of traditionally produced electricity was only around 0.5 yuan per kilowatt-hour.

"Even though the SGCC has taken this big step, we are still waiting for more policies like subsidies," Shang Ruifeng, spokesman of Trina Solar Ltd, a leading domestic solar company, told the Global Times Sunday.

Several ministries, including the National Energy Administration, held a meeting Thursday to discuss ways of helping domestic solar power companies get through this difficult time, Nanfang Daily reported Saturday.

The situation of solar power generators waiting for government subsidies will not change in the short term due to the higher cost, so they "need to improve technologies to reduce solar energy cost as a long-term strategy," Liang Tian, public relations director of Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co, another leading domestic solar power company, told the Global Times.

Domestic solar power generators suffered a tough time recently following anti-dumping and anti-subsidy moves from the US and the EU.

The US Commerce Department announced earlier this month that it will impose anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar product exporters, with rates from 18.32 percent to 249.96 percent, and anti-subsidy tariffs with rates from 14.78 to 15.97 percent.

And the EU started an investigation on China's solar product manufacturers in September, accusing them of dumping solar panels.

Over 80 percent of China's domestic solar energy enterprises stopped production and around 80 percent of their employees lost their jobs or suspended work after the US launched an investigation of China's solar products in May, Liu Hanyuan, board chairman of the Tongwei Group, said in August.