In order to develop economically by sustaining its own energy demand without harming the environment, the Chinese government has the incentive to support the development of solar power generation. China started research on solar cells in 1958, which were first applied on the satellite Dongfanghong no. 2 in 1971.
China has already made major commitments to transitioning its energy systems towards renewables, especially power generation from solar, wind and hydro sources. However, there are many unknowns about the future of solar energy in China, including its cost, technical feasibility and grid compatibility in the coming decades.
4.2. Specific implementations in relevant fields The latest 12th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development in China proposed a new development goal for its solar PV industry. The central government has decided to quadruple its national solar installation target to 21 GW by 2015. The initial target set in 2011 was only 5 GW.
In order to minimize the costs of renewable energy development, China first relied on cheaper wind power than more on solar PV. In other words, China followed the comparative advantages in making selections between wind power and solar PV. The rapid emergence and rise of Chinese solar PV firms were pivotal for the cost reduction.
In recent years, the Chinese government has promulgated numerous policies to promote the PV industry. As the largest emitter of the greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world, China and its policies on solar and other renewable energy have a global impact, and have gained attention worldwide .
The program used a mixture of small hydro, PV, and wind power. This program significantly affected the development of the PV industry. China built several solar cell packaging lines and the production capacity of solar cell module reached 100 MW promptly .