In early January, the Development and Reform Bureau of Zhuhai released a notice on the development of PV generation in the city for the 2022-2025 period. Zhuhai is a well-known urban center located in the Pearl River Delta of China’s Guangdong Province. According to the notice, the city aims to increase its installed PV generation capacity by around 3.7GW by 2025. Of this total, centralized PV power stations will account for around 3.48GW, and various community-based DG PV projects will account for around 220MW. The notice also stated that the city will promote the rapid development of the advanced manufacturing of PV products and energy storage equipment. Furthermore, the city will assist in the setup of demonstration projects that highlight the unique attributes of the local PV industry. These projects will include a smart operation center and a PV product manufacturing base that will be the largest in scale in the province.
Regarding DG rooftop PV projects, the notice listed the following installation goals for 2025: 13.49MW for rooftop PV projects on party buildings; 49.69MW for rooftop PV projects on public buildings; 145.62MW for rooftop PV projects on commercial and industrial buildings; and 10.78MW for rooftop PV projects on residential buildings.
Regarding centralized PV power stations, Zhuhai wants to add 3.48GW within the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Presently, applications for six projects related to PV power stations have been filed with the municipal government. These six projects include ground-mounted and floating PV power stations, and together they occupy a total area of around 10.67 square kilometers. Their total generation capacity is estimated around 960MW and will be mainly used support facilities related to aquaculture.
There are also 10 more projects that are being planned but have yet to reach the application stage. Together, these ten projects will occupy a total area of 27.71 square kilometers (including coastal areas) and mostly support facilities related to aquaculture, waste disposal, and other integrated industrial applications. The notice also stated that the centralized PV power stations that will be built during the 2022-2025 period will be concentrated in the following the districts of the city: Jinwan District, Hezhou New District, and Doumen District. They will be developed in three phases: 1.28GW for the first phase, 1.815GW for the second phase, and 335MW for the third phase.
Turning to energy storage, the city wants to take advantage of the existing resources related to PV generation and promote the growth of PV-plus-storage projects. Every centralized PV power station in vicinity of the city is mandated to have a complementing storage capacity that is no less than 10% of its generation capacity and can meet at two hours of demand. This mandate is subject to change as per the new requirements issued by the relevant national regulatory authorities in the future. The notice further stated that the energy storage systems deployed in PV-plus-storage projects must meet industry standards with respect to battery specifications, etc. Both PV systems and energy storage systems must be installed simultaneously during project construction.