China Golden Sun Project Aims to Speed Construction of Solar Farms

China announced a new program last week, The "Golden Sun" project to install at least 500 megawatts of solar farms across the nation over the next two or three years.

Posted on the Chinese Ministry of Finance website Tuesday, the government said it would subsidize 50 percent of the costs of building solar power projects and transmitting and distributing the solar power from those projects. In remote areas that are missing the infrastructure to connect to the grid the incentive will go up to 70 percent for photovoltaic projects. Financial budgeting terms having to do with this project were not disclosed. 

The program was created in part to subsidize Chinese solar manufacturers who have been hit hard by the world export market for solar products. Chinese solar companies are also hoping that the government will create a feed-in tariff program such as the one in Germany where solar power plant operators can sell electricity at higher prices.  This program is in addition to the announcement in March that the Chinese government will subsidize rooftop and building-integrated solar with a minimum of 50 kilowatts of energy generation. 

While these moves send a strong signal that China will be a major player in the renewable energy industry some analysts are still skeptical. 

According to Paula Mints, analyst at Navigant Consulting, "Historically, China has made a lot of announcements that have not come to pass. They have affordability issues, and they have cheap coal and other problems to solve.  They aren't going to go from 25 to 50 megawatts, mostly off the grid, into a multi-gigawatt market in a few years."