“Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Photovoltaic Industry” (Guo Fa [2013] No. 24)

Guofa [2013] No. 24 clarifies the overall development goals, main development directions, improvement of grid-connected management and services, and policy support for distributed photovoltaic applications in China. It is a programmatic document to promote the development and application of photovoltaics. The main contents include:

(1) Establish development goals for photovoltaic applications. From 2013 to 2015, the average annual new installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation was about 10 million kW, and by 2015 the total installed capacity will reach more than 35 million kW.

(2) Vigorously develop the distributed power supply market. Encourage all kinds of power users to build distributed photovoltaic power generation systems in the manner of “self-generation and self-use, surplus Internet access, and grid adjustment”. Priority is given to supporting the construction of large-scale distributed photovoltaic power generation systems in industrial and commercial enterprises and industrial parks with higher electricity prices. Support the promotion of small distributed power systems in schools, hospitals, party and government agencies, institutions, residential and community buildings and structures. In the process of urbanization development, we will make full use of solar energy, strengthen the application of photovoltaic power generation in combination with building energy conservation, promote the integrated construction of photovoltaic buildings, and support the application of photovoltaic power generation in the construction of new rural areas. Relying on new energy demonstration cities, green energy demonstration counties, and renewable energy building application demonstration cities (counties), expand the application of distributed power sources, build 100 large-scale distributed power application demonstration areas, 1,000 photovoltaic power generation application demonstration towns and demonstration village. Carry out new energy smart microgrid pilot and demonstration projects suitable for distributed power operation characteristics and large-scale applications, explore the corresponding power management system and operation mechanism, and form a new construction, operation and consumption system that adapts to the development of distributed photovoltaic power generation. Support remote areas and islands to use photovoltaic power generation to solve the problem of no electricity and lack of electricity. Encourage the promotion of distributed photovoltaic power in the fields of urban street lighting, urban landscape, communication base stations, and traffic lights.

(3) Promote the construction of distributed power sources in an orderly manner. In accordance with the overall idea of “reasonable layout, nearby access, local consumption, and orderly advancement”, in accordance with the needs of local power market development and energy structure adjustment, and under the premise of fulfilling the conditions for market absorption, the construction of various types of photovoltaic power plants will be promoted in an orderly manner. Encourage the use of existing grid facilities to build photovoltaic power plants in a multi-energy complementary manner. Coordinate the planning and construction of photovoltaic power stations and supporting power grids to ensure timely grid connection and efficient utilization of distributed power generation.

(4) Strengthen the construction of supporting power grids. Grid enterprises should strengthen the construction and transformation of grids that are compatible with photovoltaic power generation, and ensure that supporting grids and photovoltaic power generation projects are completed and put into operation simultaneously. Actively develop micro-grid and smart grid technologies that integrate advanced energy storage technology and information technology to improve the ability of the grid system to accept photovoltaic power generation. For photovoltaic power generation projects connected to the public grid, the grid connection project and the part of the public grid transformation caused by the connection are invested and constructed by the grid enterprise. Distributed photovoltaic power generation connected to the user side, and part of the public grid transformation caused by the connection is invested and constructed by the power grid enterprise.

(5) Improve the grid-connected operation service of photovoltaic power generation. All grid companies must provide grid-connected services for photovoltaic power generation, optimize system scheduling and operation, give priority to guaranteeing photovoltaic power generation operations, ensure that photovoltaic power generation projects are connected to the grid in time, and purchase the full amount of power generation. Simplify the grid access methods and management procedures of distributed power sources, publish distributed power grid-connected service procedures, and establish a simple and efficient grid-connected service system. The system reserve capacity fee and related service fees are exempted for distributed photovoltaic power generation projects. Strengthen the supervision of photovoltaic power grid access and grid-connected operation.

(6) Strongly support user-side photovoltaic applications. Open user-side distributed power generation construction, support and encourage enterprises, institutions, communities and households to install and use photovoltaic power generation systems. Encourage specialized energy service companies to cooperate with users to invest in the construction, operation and management of photovoltaic power generation and related facilities that supply power to users. Implementation of filing management for distributed power projects, exemption of distributed power application power generation business licenses. For distributed power projects that do not require state funding subsidies, large-scale construction can be liberalized if they have the conditions to connect to the power grid. All electricity from distributed power sources is included in the statistics of electricity generation and electricity consumption of the whole society, and used as performance evaluation indicators for local governments and power grid companies. Spontaneous self-consumption power generation is not included in the scope of application of the tiered tariff, but is included in the energy-saving energy of local governments and users.

(7) Improve electricity price and subsidy policies. The distributed photovoltaic power generation is implemented in accordance with the policy of electricity subsidy. According to resource conditions and construction costs, establish benchmark electricity prices for distributed power sources in different regions, and discover prices and subsidy standards through competitive methods such as bidding. According to factors such as changes in the cost of photovoltaic power generation, reasonably adjust and reduce the on-grid tariffs for distributed power generation and the subsidy standards for distributed power generation. In principle, the implementation period of feed-in tariffs and subsidies is 20 years. According to the development needs of photovoltaic power generation, adjust the additional levy standards of renewable energy electricity prices and expand the scale of the renewable energy development fund. The scale of photovoltaic power generation is coordinated with the scale of the National Renewable Energy Development Fund.