China has announced the new solar PV installation target of 18.1GW this month, yet targets for poverty alleviation projects were not unveiled. EnergyTrend expected that 2~3GW of PV poverty alleviation projects will be implemented during this year depending to the nation’s policies to be released. PV BOX, a Chinese online media, stated that poverty-alleviating PV projects will boom in China due to five major reasons.
First, PV Poverty Alleviation Project is strongly supported by the Beijing government as well as local governments. The unlimited installation capacity revealed by National Energy Administration is Beijing government’s strongest support to the country’s PV poverty alleviation projects.
Second, the State Council of China has signed poverty alleviation financing agreements with three state-owned banks to offer financial supports to PV poverty alleviation projects. Some local banks have plans to join in.
Third, the power grid construction and improvement for remote regions will be conducted by state-owned power grid companies as part of China’s Thirteenth Five-year Plan. The total investment will exceed RMB522 billion.
Fourth, farmers usually own their houses, so the poverty right of their rooftops are specific enough for them to develop rooftop PV systems easily.
Fifth, China has appointed certain priority in poverty-alleviating PV projects.
To sum, China’s supports from aspects including policy, financing and power grid infrastructure will help poverty-alleviation PV project boost. Adding that China has set certain curtailments for new installations of large-scale ground-mounted PV projects, it has more opportunities for developers to build the limitation-free poverty-alleviating PV projects.