Solar cell companies in China recently submitted a scheme to the Ministry of Science and Technology to cut the cost of solar power generation to $0.146 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2012. This is three years earlier then had been thought possible only last year and is largely due to the current steep drop in polysilicon prices and further planned advances in production.
The companies that submitted the scheme include Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited (NYSE:STP), LDK Solar Company Limited (NYSE:LDK), Trina Solar Limited (NYSE:TSL), Solarfun Power Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ:SOLF) and Nanjing First-Second Power Equipment Company Limited (Nanjing).
The scheme was reportedly drafted based on a former scientific research program prepared by the Jiangsu Photovoltaic Industry Association, which initially received approval from the first board meeting held in Nanjing, the capital city of eastern China’s Jiangsu province, on December 18, 2008.
Preparation for the scheme was carried out by enterprises covering the entire photovoltaic industrial chain, including solar-cell producers such as Suntech and wafer producers such as LDK Solar.
The Chinese government has approved only three solar-energy demonstration power stations so far, namely the 1-megawatt (MW) Chongming Island Project in Shanghai, the 255-kilowatt project in Ordos in Inner Mongolia and the 10-MW on-grid solar power project in Dunhuang. Both the demonstration projects on Chongming Island and in Ordos require an allowance of $0.584 per kWh from the government....MORE
HT: SolarFeeds
