China to launch supportive policies for PV industry

BEIJING - Authorities are working to boost the domestic photovoltaic (PV) industry by launching a variety of supportive policies, according to a report in the Friday edition of the Shanghai Securities News.

"Policies will be unveiled when they are mature," the report said, citing sources from the National Energy Administration (NEA).

"The general goal of the upcoming policies is to expand domestic demand, promote company mergers and encourage industrial innovation," the report cited the sources as saying.

The NEA said last month that it plans to launch a distributed power generation project that is being seen as a measure to boost the domestic PV industry.

The State Grid drew up a proposal on Thursday regarding the conditional exemption of PV grid-connected fees, which will help to break a bottleneck that has trapped China's PV market, according to Meng Xiangan, vice president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society.

The NEA is also drafting a subsidy policy for certain areas of the distributed PV grid. The policy would create retails subsidies of 0.4 to 0.6 yuan (0.06 to 0.09 U.S. dollars) per kilowatt-hour, the report said.

The PV industry has been suffering since late last year as a result of slumping demand and declining polysilicon prices. Recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations from the United States and European countries have also weighed on the industry.