How much solar energy can China generate a year?

The total potential for solar radiant energy is 1.7 × 1012 tons of standard coal equivalent per year for the country (Zhang et al., 2009a). China started generating solar photovoltaic (PV) power in the 1960s, and power generation is the dominant form of solar energy (Wang, 2010).

Does China have a solar PV system?

New and cumulative installed capacities of China's solar PV power from 2000 to 2017. In order to effectively coordinate the scale and speed of the solar PV installation with the economic development, China has occasionally set and adjusted the development targets for solar PV power.

What is the role of solar photovoltaic power generation in China?

Among alternative sources, solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is expected to play an important role in this process in China given abundant solar resources and huge PV manufacturing capacity ( 7 – 10 ).

What is the market potential of solar PV power in China?

The market potential m of solar PV power in China reaches 1357 GW. This is higher than the results in the early studies, which predicted that the potential cumulative installed capacity of solar PV power will reach 287.68 GW in 2050.

Why is solar PV developing west-to-East in China?

Driven by a combination of limited capacity to integrate variable solar power into the local power systems of the western region and air pollution control policies that increasingly constrain coal use in eastern China, there has been an evident west-to-east shift of solar PV development in China.

Why is China reducing the investment ratio for solar PV power?

To make it competitive enough when competing with traditional power generation forms, and to reduce the fiscal expenditure at the same time, Chinese government has taken a series of measures to weaken the incentive policies in solar PV generation. Thus, the investment ratio for solar PV power is set to be a lower level of 0.5% of GDP.