Li Keqiang, vice premier of the State Council, held a State Council executive meeting on the 12th and stated that the country will combine urbanization construction, adopt measures such as encouraging the application of solar power generation equipment, supporting distributed generation and grid connection, and increase domestic market development efforts. According to reports, the authoritative sources learned that in response to the country’s call, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is leading a plan to develop a theme “Photovoltaic to the countryside” to promote the large-scale entry of solar photovoltaic power into the rural market and take the ride of future urbanization. ".

Industry Insider "Let * tongue war"

The highlight of the 12th meeting was the first time to “encourage families to install and use photovoltaic power generation systems”, indicating that the gates for photovoltaic power generation applications will soon be facing the rural market, but the industry’s plans for the theme of “photovoltaic rural areas” can be described as It is the benevolent who sees the wise and sees the wisdom and sets off a "lip-and-word war."

Wen Jianhua, chief operating officer of Hunan Gongchuang Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters: “We have long been looking forward to this policy of photovoltaics to the countryside. This is the only way for solar energy to truly benefit the people.”

Wang Shijiang, deputy director of the Photovoltaic Industry Research Institute of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Institute, said that there are great prospects for the combination of photovoltaic and facility agriculture. Photovoltaic agricultural greenhouses refer to the use of the inclined surface of a plastic greenhouse to install solar modules to form a "plant factory" for "growing vegetables in the shed and generating electricity outside the shed." This kind of transparent photovoltaic glass made of agricultural greenhouses can not only grow vegetables, but also generate electricity. It is also warm in winter and cool in summer.

It is understood that at present, the area of ​​agricultural sheds standardized throughout the country amounts to 50 million mu. If all photovoltaic integrated systems are built, it will drive a market of 250 billion yuan. Photovoltaic greenhouses are only a small part of the “PV to the countryside” market. In the vast rural areas, more promising places are on the roofs of residents. The data shows that as of now, the country’s housing construction area exceeds 40 billion square meters, and the roof area available for photovoltaic power generation accounts for about 20%, and most of the available development area is concentrated on the roof of rural residents.

Wang Shijiang introduced that some non-electricity regions in the western region have already introduced 3000-5000 watts of off-grid small-scale photovoltaic power generation products with the aid of state subsidies, and the promotion of off-grid photovoltaic power stations in the non-powered regions is expected to increase.

Wang Runchuan, manager of solar energy supplier relationship management at JA Solar, expressed that he is cautiously optimistic about the development potential of the rural PV market, because the PV industry from upstream product manufacturing to professional power station development and operation is now gathering in the urban and industrial area markets. Look to the countryside.

Wang Runchuan said that in terms of national policy orientation and the long-term development trend of the industry (Fang Yuan), the future battlefield will undoubtedly be rural. However, from the current stage, due to the absence of supporting subsidies and related supporting policies for “PV to the countryside”, companies lacking a clear investment return expectation in this area may not be able to become climate in the short term.

Wang Runchuan pointed out that large-scale promotion of photovoltaic power generation in rural areas will face significant economic problems. He said that even if the cost of a simple family photovoltaic power plant is only a few thousand dollars, it still represents a significant expenditure for rural families with limited income levels. Moreover, this is only a one-time initial investment, and the current supporting maintenance service business is still a blank in many enterprises, not to mention deeper into rural areas. What is even more crucial is that due to the inability to fully self-use, excess electricity needs to be integrated into the local rural power grid. It also involves grid approval and technical barriers, and the issue of subsidy for electricity prices is more complicated.

According to Han Qiming, chief analyst of Solarbuzz, a photovoltaic research organization, although there are still many doubts about the sustainability of the rural market for photovoltaic power generation, the main application areas of distributed photovoltaic power generation are in urban industrial parks and roofs of public utilities, and residential buildings are not Suitable for building roof power stations. Therefore, families are encouraged to install photovoltaic power plants. The obvious aim is for the majority of rural and small- and medium-sized urban residents, such as agricultural sheds and other agricultural facilities that are already quite large.

According to the experience of domestic companies such as CEC, a total of half a mu of rural plastic greenhouses, with a total investment of a few kilowatts of photovoltaic power generation system must reach 12 to 130,000 yuan, the provincial finance subsidy can be 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, farmers Investing 20,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan, and the rest relying on banks to solve the problem. In summary, the investment return period for the development of agricultural greenhouse power plants will only take 5 to 6 years, which is still affordable for developers. Therefore, the photovoltaic rural market is still economical and prospective for development in some areas.

The obstacles of “photovoltaic to the countryside” and “photovoltaics to the countryside” are not always full of flowers. It can be foreseen that photovoltaic power generation equipment built by a considerable number of rural households will not be fully used for self-use. In addition, surplus electricity generated outside of production and living will be incorporated into the local power grid in exchange for economic benefits. When surplus power is integrated into the local rural power grid, it involves The network approval and technical barriers are indeed the thorny issues that need to be solved for “PV to the countryside”, and the issue of grid connection will become the biggest “stumbling block”.

Although recently, in order to speed up the promotion of distributed PV access, the State Grid Corporation of China has issued a "Circular on the Implementation of Distributed Photovoltaic Power Grid Connection Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") at the end of October this year. The “Notice” requires that for a single grid point with a total installed capacity of not more than 6 MW, the grid company will be responsible for the cost of the public grid reform caused by the grid connection, and the cost of access to the system project will be considered both grid-connected and grid-connected. The situation is the responsibility of the grid companies and the owners. However, if not only to sell electricity to the grid, the owner still needs to have two-way smart meters.

The reporter cited Wen Jianhua’s remarks: “The state should make overall plans and subsidy policies, and jointly promote the project, and introduce more detailed methods of operation in terms of project declaration, matching, and qualification approval.”

The key issue that has hampered the development of China's photovoltaic industry still lies in the rationalization of the system and the availability of subsidies, rather than the lack of application markets. In the final analysis, “photovoltaic to the countryside” will be the only way for the development of China's photovoltaic industry. However, letting the dreams shine into reality and allowing enterprises to build up and farmers can afford it, it is clear that various conditions will come and go. Judging from the current situation, there are surviving risks in the countryside, and photovoltaic companies need to be cautious.