China to increase investment in domestic market - SolarStar

Last week’s much anticipated cash injection from the Chinese government into its domestic market has now been announced by Premier Wen Jiabao  , reports PV-Tech China.

With the latest trade case against Chinese solar manufacturers underway in Europe, Jiabao announced at a State Council Executive Meeting on 19 December that China needs to promote the domestic PV market  to survive.

Jiabao said that although the Chinese industry has developed rapidly over the past few years, excess capacity and an excessive foreign import philosophy has caused operating difficulties.

Last week it was reported that overcapacity, weak demand and uncompetitive production have forced around 90% of polysilicon producers in China to suspend operations.

The Chinese government called for new PV and BIPV applications from regional governments last month, under the Golden Sun programme to boost PV growth in the country and help local PV manufacturers.

The proposed measures set out this week include:

1. Put in place a mechanism to encourage corporate mergers and acquisitions to accelerate research and development.

2. Strengthen the coordination of PV power generation planning and support grid restructuring proposals; place a cap on production of polysilicon and PV cells and modules.

3. Actively explore the domestic PV market and promote PV power generation.

4. Continue the development of the country’s feed-in tariff and state financial support policies.

5. Improve the electricity pricing mechanism.

In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Finance has earmarked US$9.5 billion of funding for solar power.

On a local level, the largest amount of US$48.1 million will go to Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the lowest amount of US$150,767 to Hubei Province.