The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China has finalised its solar PV subsidy policy for 2020, taking into account the permitting rules set by the National Energy Administration (NEA) for the construction of new projects. Distributed PV and utility projects seeking financial support from the central government will have to go through a bidding process. The guiding prices for utility PV were cut by CNY5c/kWh (US$0.7c/kWh) to CNY35c/kWh (US$4.95c/kWh) for projects in zone 1, to CNY40c/kWh (US$5.7c/kWh) for projects in zone 2, and to CNY49c/kWh (US$6.9c/kWh) or projects in zone 3. The subsidy for residential PV and some distributed PV fell by 50% (CNY10c/kWh, i.e. US$0.14c/kWh) and 56% (CNY5c/kWh, i.e. US$0.7c/kWh), respectively.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of China, the total subsidy for solar PV will be halved compared to 2019 and will average CNY1.5bn (US$214m) in 2020, including CNY1bn (US$142m) for bidding projects (including distributed PV and utility-scale PV projects) and CNY500m (US$71m) for residential rooftop PV.

Guest post from Enerdata