China’s plan to introduce a system to monitor and
evaluate the solar-power market will help direct new investments to regions
where fewer plants are idle, according to industry researchers.
The policy, which targets mostly ground-mounted projects,
will provide data on where to avoid and where to invest, so it “will alleviate
some idle solar capacity,”
said Peng Peng, director of policy research at the Chinese Renewable Energy
Industries Association.
The National Energy Administration said last week it plans
to allocate its annual solar power installation quota based on a review of idle
rates and other conditions across the country. The agency will cut some or all
quotas in regions with high solar-power curtailment rates and in areas
that score poorly on factors such as land conditions, local-government services
and success in reducing clean-energy subsidies.
Curtailment, where more solar
capacity is available than local electricity grids can handle, has
carried a heavy cost for China. The nation wasted 3.28 TWh of solar energy last
year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The NEA said last month that China is introducing a
clean-energy quota system to ensure provincial targets and ease the
idle-capacity problem.
The main purpose of the evaluation system is to “help
promote rational investment” in solar, said Yvonne Liu, an analyst at BNEF in
Beijing.
There will be a lag between guidance generated by historical
data and potential investments, she said. Investors need more forecasts about
the market, more transparency about the number of projects awaiting new quotas
and more details within each region to determine whether to develop a new
project, Liu said.
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