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January 17, 2013China to instal 10GW of Solar capacity in 2013
The latest buzz in the solar industry is that China plans to instal 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity in 2013. If China is successful in achieving this target, it gets very close to completion of installment of its previously set goal of 21 G W of capacity by 2015. This move will greatly help the Chinese Solar Manufacturers. Reacting to the announcement, the shares of leading Chinese Solar companies like Trina Solar Ltd (TSL), Yingli Green (YGE), JA Solar (JASO) and JinkoSolar (JKS) have already went up. China is the world’s largest in terms of its solar power capacity. China’s Solar Industry is the biggest in the world, with 5 of the biggest Solar Panel Manufacturers being Chinese. The remarkable growth in the Chinese Solar Panel Industry has been due to the supportive Government, low labor and capital costs and aggressive competition. However the industry was hit hard by the US and European anti dumping proceedings against it.
The US imposition of duties on Solar panel imports from China has raised the hackles of the Chinese Government, which considers the solar industry to be strategic to its future growth. Europe accounts for almost 75% of the world’s demand of solar panels and has been instrumental in the growth of the Chinese solar industry. Note China accounts for less than 10% of the demand, while it supplies almost 60-70% of the global supply of solar panels. While the US was a small market comparatively, Europe is a huge market and the loss of this market will sound the death knell of the biggest Chinese companies.
Why China keeps increasing its Solar Power Capacity
China has repeatedly increased the Solar capacity targets since last few years, as solar panel prices have crashed making solar power increasingly affordable. Note China installs the largest amount of electricity capacity each year at around 100 GW. 80% of China’s power comes from dirty polluting thermal power plants. This has made the situation unsustainable as billions of tons of coal burning each year, leads to major health and pollution problems in China’s increasingly prosperous cities. While China has made massive investments in hydro power and wind power capacity, both are reaching the limits in growth. With solar energy reaching retail grid parity in a number of places in China, solar capacity will increase, without the need of subsidies from the Government. Also dirty Coal power will start getting replaced as Chinese citizens demand cleaner sources of power.
China which had a target of only 20 GW of solar by 2020, has decided to raise the target by 150% to 50 GW, according to the country’s leading energy planning authority NDRC.
Also Read about Cheap Chinese Solar Manufacturers.
China, the world’s top energy consumer, will more than double its installed solar power capacity this year from 2012, the government said on Wednesday, driving up shares of U.S.-listed Chinese solar companies.
China aims to add 10 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar power capacity this year, up from 7 GW at the end of last year, the government said on its website (www.gov.cn), citing an annual national energy work conference this week.