Promote the high-quality development of the photovoltaic industry

Accelerating the development of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation is a major measure for China to build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system. In recent years, China has continuously promoted the implementation of the "double carbon" goal, and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic power generation are in a promising period of strategic opportunities. The "14th Five-Year Plan" and the 2035 vision target outline propose to vigorously increase the scale of photovoltaic power generation. This issue invited experts to discuss related issues.

Photovoltaic installed capacity for 8 consecutive years first in the world

In recent years, how is the development and utilization of solar energy in China? What factors benefit from the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry?

Zhao Yongqiang (Director of the Renewable Energy Center of the Energy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research) : Solar photovoltaic power generation has low cost, wide distribution of resources, and rich application scenarios. The International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that under the scenario of net zero carbon emissions in 2050, the global photovoltaic installed capacity will reach 18.2 billion kilowatts.

A preliminary study of China's future energy development scenario shows that in order to achieve carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, photovoltaic installed capacity will need to reach more than 1 billion kilowatts and about 4 billion kilowatts, respectively. Accelerating the development of the photovoltaic industry will become an important direction and long-term task for China to build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system and participate in the global energy industry and green economy competition and cooperation.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan", driven by the goal of peaking carbon neutrality in China and the explosive growth of the global photovoltaic market, new energy represented by photovoltaic power generation has entered a stage of large-scale, market-oriented and high-quality development.

First, the scale of installed capacity continued to grow rapidly. In the first half of this year, China's photovoltaic newly connected to the grid 78.42 million kilowatts, as of the end of June photovoltaic installed capacity of 470 million kilowatts, becoming the second largest installed power supply, second only to coal power, photovoltaic power installed capacity ranked first in the world for eight consecutive years. Second, the power generation continues to increase, and the overall consumption and utilization remain at a high level. In the first half of this year, the country's photovoltaic power generation was 266.3 billion KWH, an increase of 30%. The utilization rate of photovoltaic power generation in China is 98.2 percent. Third, the accelerated development of distributed photovoltaics. In 2022, the new installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic increased by 75% year-on-year, and the new installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic in the first half of this year was 40.96 million kilowatts, an increase of 108% year-on-year, and the cumulative installed capacity was 198 million kilowatts by the end of June. Fourth, the level of technology continues to improve. Enterprises have become an important subject of technological innovation in the photovoltaic industry, and China's photovoltaic enterprises have taken the lead in promoting the large-scale application of advanced technologies such as diamond wire and heterojunction batteries in the world, and have advanced the layout of cutting-edge technologies such as industrial granular silicon materials and perovskite batteries, constantly consolidating their global leading position. Among them, the conversion efficiency of silicon heterojunction cells has set a world record, and new photovoltaic cells such as perovskites have accelerated the commercialization process. Fifth, the rapid expansion and upgrading of all links of the photovoltaic industry, the price of photovoltaic modules has fallen to a record low, and the industrial chain supply chain guarantee ability and global competitiveness have been significantly enhanced. Sixth, the export of photovoltaic products has increased significantly. In 2022, China's total exports of photovoltaic products exceeded 51.2 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 80%.

The development and growth of the photovoltaic industry benefit from strong policy support, comprehensive market competition and technological innovation of the whole chain. As early as the beginning of this century, China launched the implementation of power to the township project, vigorously support photovoltaic power stations and household photovoltaic systems, solve the problem of electricity in remote areas without electricity population, and cultivate the first batch of domestic photovoltaic equipment manufacturing and engineering enterprises. In 2005, the Renewable Energy Law was passed, providing strong policy support in terms of total volume targets, classified electricity prices, and cost sharing. In addition, through the implementation of large-scale photovoltaic power plant concession bidding, the implementation of photovoltaic power generation "leader" plan, etc., in the way of market competition to promote the photovoltaic industry chain technological innovation and rapid cost decline, help photovoltaic power plants in the "13th Five-Year" end to achieve parity Internet access, get rid of subsidy dependence. In recent years, China has also accelerated the development of urban and rural rooftop photovoltaics and various types of "photovoltaic +" models, promoted the construction of large desert Gobi desert scenery bases, major river basins water-landscape integration bases, innovative various types of photovoltaic utilization scenarios, and promoted photovoltaic to the stage of comprehensive popularization and development.

The rapid development of the photovoltaic industry is also inseparable from the global market and resources, and benefits from extensive and in-depth international cooperation. In the past 20 years, China has adhered to the direction of marketization and internationalization, given full play to the advantages of the whole new energy industry chain, large market size, and fast technology transformation, and continuously attracted talents, technology and innovation factors through the market-oriented mechanism, and made use of global talents and market resources to build a photovoltaic industry chain. At present, China's photovoltaic industry has entered the stage of innovation-driven high-quality development, innovation has become the first driving force for development, and the industrial competitiveness has been continuously enhanced.

In the field of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation, the future should continue to give full play to the advantages of the whole new energy industry chain and the large market size, promote the proportion of new energy in the power system to continue to increase, and build a new energy system dominated by green, low-carbon renewable energy.

"Photovoltaic +" mode helps carbon reach peak carbon neutrality

At present, what development models has China's photovoltaic industry formed?

Lv Xiaojun (Professor, School of New Energy, North China Electric Power University) : The rapid development of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation has made a positive contribution to the realization of the "two-carbon" goal. At present, China's photovoltaic power stations are mainly divided into distributed photovoltaic power stations and centralized photovoltaic power stations. Data show that by the end of June 2023, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in the country reached 470 million kilowatts, of which 272 million kilowatts of centralized photovoltaic and 198 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaic.

Distributed photovoltaic power stations are usually installed on the roof or wall, can supply power to nearby users, can reduce transmission losses, improve energy efficiency, generally using self-use, surplus electricity online distribution mode, relatively less investment, construction period is short. In 2021, the newly installed installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic power stations in the country was 29.28 million kilowatts, accounting for the proportion of all new photovoltaic installed capacity for the first time exceeded 50%, and a centralized and distributed development pattern was basically formed. In 2022, the newly installed installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic was 51.11 million kilowatts, accounting for more than 58% of the new installed capacity of photovoltaic in the year.

Centralized photovoltaic power stations are large in scale, mainly used in desert, mountain and other open areas, can achieve long-distance power supply, its advantage lies in scale efficiency, convenient centralized management, easy to achieve expansion. Data show that in the first half of 2023, the new installed capacity of centralized photovoltaic 37.46 million kilowatts, an increase of 234%.

Whether it is a distributed photovoltaic power station or a centralized photovoltaic power station, the development momentum is very rapid, and has formed "photovoltaic + building", "photovoltaic + hydrogen production", "photovoltaic + energy storage", "photovoltaic + new energy vehicles" and other application models.

"Photovoltaic + building" is an effective way to achieve the green development of buildings, compared with the direct installation of photovoltaic power generation system on the existing building, photovoltaic building integration focuses on the unity and integration of photovoltaic power generation components and buildings, power generation components both have power generation functions, but also a part of the building materials. The "Action Plan for Carbon Peak before 2030" proposes to promote the integrated application of photovoltaic power generation and buildings. Construction of photovoltaic power generation, energy storage, DC distribution, flexible electricity in one of the "light storage direct soft" building. By 2025, the renewable energy replacement rate of urban buildings will reach 8%, and the rooftop photovoltaic coverage rate of new public institution buildings and new factories will strive to reach 50%. In April 2023, the first multi-functional photovoltaic building integration project in Qinghai Province successfully connected to the grid for power generation, including 100 kilowatts of multi-functional photovoltaic curtain walls, 157.76 kilowatts of conventional module photovoltaic curtain walls, etc., a total of 5.4 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity can be generated annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 5,388 tons.

Hydrogen energy is a green low-carbon, widely used secondary energy, photovoltaic hydrogen production is the first use of photovoltaic power generation to convert light energy into electricity, and then the use of electricity to hydroelectricity to hydrogen and oxygen, the manufacturing process is environmentally friendly as a whole, but also to calm the instability of photovoltaic power generation. In the Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen energy Industry (2021-2035), it is proposed to build a clean, low-carbon and low-cost multi-component hydrogen production system, focus on the development of renewable energy hydrogen production, and strictly control fossil energy hydrogen production. Renewable energy hydrogen production has broad prospects, and photovoltaic enterprises have laid out the development of photovoltaic hydrogen production. In June 2023, Xinjiang Kuqa Green hydrogen Demonstration Project successfully produced hydrogen, the project through photovoltaic power generation, green hydrogen production and other processes, hydrogen production scale of about 20,000 tons per year.

Models such as "photovoltaic + energy storage" and "photovoltaic + new energy vehicles" are also constantly being applied. Light storage integration by storing clean energy after photovoltaic power generation, can reduce the proportion of abandoned light, to achieve the effect of "1+1>2". The "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" proposes to promote efficient collaboration between new energy vehicles and renewable energy. Encourage the construction of "optical storage, charge and discharge" (distributed photovoltaic power generation - energy storage system - charge and discharge) multi-functional integrated station. Boao Town, Qionghai City, Hainan province, built an intelligent charging station for light-storage and charging vehicles, set up 8 charging parking Spaces, and adopted the "digital + intelligent" mode of operation, integrating a number of technologies such as rooftop photovoltaic power generation, energy storage system storage, and charging pile power consumption. The first "zero-carbon community" in Chaisang District of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province was built in Shahe Street Park community, which includes photovoltaic promenade, photovoltaic chairs, and integrated parking lots of "light storage and charging".

The proposal of "double carbon" goal promotes China's energy structure to accelerate the transformation to clean and low-carbon, and promotes China's photovoltaic industry to enter a new starting point and a new stage. At present, a variety of "photovoltaic +" models have been formed to effectively help China achieve the "double carbon" goal and the high-quality development of the photovoltaic industry.