Inner Mongolia's photovoltaic industry ready for upgrade

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-07-07

Preferential policies for the photovoltaic industry

Inner Mongolia boasts rich solar energy resources and land resources, which has provided an enormous market for the region’s photovoltaic industry.

However, China's photovoltaic products have been facing higher barriers in export in recent years. In addition to the slowing down of the growth rate of market demand, the unbalanced development of the photovoltaic industry and other adverse factors have led to the premature demise of many photovoltaic enterprises.

A series of policies were put out in 2013 in response to such conditions, revitalizing photovoltaic enterprises during the downturn.

In May 2013, the government of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region released the Notice Concerning the Support of the Development of Photovoltaic Industry in order to give incentive to the development of the photovoltaic industry.

The government pledged that it would collocate 100 million tons of coal resources for every investment of 2 billion yuan in the supply chain of polycrystalline silicon, cell components and related supporting industries.

The notice encouraged the restructuring of manufacturing enterprises of polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon and cell components, as well as current power enterprises.

"As the capital city of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, many colleges, universities and research institutes are located in Hohhot, the hub of talent, and can meet the demands of various enterprises for professionals.

Meanwhile, since Hohhot takes a pivotal position in the power grid of Western Inner Mongolia, and serves as a vital hub to output the power of Inner Mongolia to the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanshan Power Grid and Southern Power Grid of Hebei province, it thus makes it convenient for new-energy power enterprises to connect with the power grids.

Located in the west of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot has rich land resources, and large tracts of desert and saline-alkali soil. Consequently, it enjoys particularly favorable natural conditions for grid connection and power stations in the desert.

With a temperate continental monsoon climate featuring less clouds, stronger solar radiation and longer sunshine, Hohhot is a good choice to develop the solar photovoltaic industry. To strengthen thermal development of the industry, the Hohhot municipal government has allocated 25 square kilometers of land for the photovoltaic industry.

“By far, Hohhot's photovoltaic industrial chain, which integrates the manufacturing of polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon and solar cells with component assembly and power station applications, has preliminarily taken shape," said Ren Shangjun, head of the key projects office of the Hohhot bureau of investment promotion.