Until now, China has mainly been active on the PV market as a net producer of photovoltaic products: Chinese manufacturers have consistently expanded their market share over the past years. In 2008, the proportion of Chinese solar cells in worldwide production was around 37 percent.

Despite this, the domestic market could not be established. However in the past year, two new promotional tariffs have been introduced and photovoltaic experts expect this to alter the picture significantly as the country’s energy requirements and solar potential are both enormous.

The state-funded promotional programs are called “Solar Rooftop Program” and “Golden Sun”. On the basis of the “Solar Rooftop Program”, system operators receive a one time subsidy of between 1.48 euros per installed watt for building-applied systems (BAPV) and 1.97 euros per watt for building-integrated systems (BIPV). However, the system must be at least 50 kW – smaller systems receive no subsidy. Under the second system, “Golden Sun”, the Chinese state refunds system operators 50 percent of the system price for grid-connected plants of over 300 kW. The second law also affects off-grid systems in outlying regions. In this case, a large 70 percent of the system price (exceeding 300 kW) is refunded. The subsidy is part of a Chinese strategy to massively expand the use of renewable energies by 2020 – the target for solar energy alone is 20 GW by then.

Despite this progress, the installer network and structure is missing, and some specialists fear that the native installers do not have the knowledge they require. Nonetheless, there is an enormous potential for foreign companies and investors to bring their own technological skills and to participate in the growth of the Chinese market and help it to develop further.

The new EuPD Research report examines the legal conditions in China as well as the Chinese photovoltaic industry, providing an outlook for successful development and sales strategies. Additionally, the potential for foreign investors is demonstrated. This report willl deliver exclusive insight into a huge and virtually completely untapped market.

More information about the new study “The Chinese Photovoltaic Market. Understand the Competitor – Explore the Opportunities” by EuPD Research can be found here » or you can contact us directly:

Mr. Florian Schmidt
f.schmidt@eupd-research.com
+49 228 971 43-58