Distributed solar PV generated 13.7 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2017, enough to power all the households in Beijing for 7.5 months. The accumulated installed capacity of distributed solar PV now accounts for 27.1 percent of China’s total solar PV installation.
Development of distributed solar photovoltaics mainly benefited from the incentive policies in China. Currently the cost of PV power generation is still higher than traditional energy sources. China's PV industry is incapable of competing in the energy market without policy intervention.
Distributed solar PV has been installed mainly in east and south China, where the country’s economy is most prosperous and demand for power is greatest. About 52 percent of capacity is in four provinces: Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui. There are four main reasons that distributed solar PV is growing faster than ever: 1. National Targets
“Solar PV+”, or solar PV integrated with agriculture, solar PV fisheries and solar PV livestock operations show the potential ahead. Despite the remarkable success of China’s solar policies, recent updates have brought huge uncertainty about whether distributed solar PV projects will continue to boom.
China's solar resource status. Source . China's distributed PV power generation is mainly distributed in the central and eastern region where the power load is concentrated. To promote distributed PV application, government makes most of the efforts in building distributed PV demonstration industrial parks under planning and management.
Data on annual and accumulated PV grid- connected installation capacity in 2022 were published by National Energy Administration. Off-grid installation accounts for a very small scale in China so the data was estimated by PV experts. Additional comments on market and data collection, especially the estimated accuracy of data.