Photovoltaic power generation a future trend

Due to a recent series of policies on energy development issued by the government, distributed power which is allowed to connect to the national grid has become a hot topic, with people in Beijing and Shandong now starting to move along this direction.

"As the photovoltaic industry does not operate well, I hope people can promote the domestic demand for photovoltaic industry by themselves," Ren Kai, known as "the first person in Beijing to sell electricity," said in early March.

He works in the photovoltaic industry and resides in Shunyi District. In front of his house, two electricity meters are set up side by side. A staff member of the State Grid explained one is the meter connected to the grid and the other is the ordinary meter. The former shows the power that photovoltaic sent to the grid; the latter shows the power it used.

Ren said when the photovoltaic combined to the grid displayed 389 kilowatt hour, it means it had sent 389 kilowatt hours from his home to the grid over a time span from January 25 to March 18. According to the 0.4 yuan for each kilowatt hour purchasing price, Ren gained some 156 yuan.

Ren demonstrated his electric power monitoring and control system and added that the generating capacity is affected by weather conditions. During the hazy weather a few days ago, generating capacity stood only at 0.5 kilowatt hours per day. On brighter days however, this number can reach up to 17 kilowatt hours. "There is no problem for the annual average daily generating capacity to reach up to ten kilowatt hours," he said.

"However, based on the 0.4 yuan for each kilowatt hour purchasing price right now, it will need 18 years to recoup the capital outlay," Ren said. Considering the service life of photovoltaic components only spans 20 to 25 years, it is obviously not worth investing in.

Zhang Zhengling, spokesman for the State Grid, said it can only purchase it with 0.4 yuan for each kilowatt hour until the country issues subsidy policies. He also said the State Grid had drawn up statistics for the entire distributed power supply. Following the implementation of subsidy policies, it will hand out compensations.

Zhang says the current grid is incapable of hosting a large distributed power supply and upgrading will cost a lot and bring with it various risks.

Faced with that issue, Ren explained that measures including the use of better materials and optimal design can decrease the possibility of accidents.

Even if the distributed photovoltaic power generation has its fair share of problems, all parties are full of fresh hope for its future. "Renewable energy is the trend in the long run. As an insider, I hope that someday the distributed photovoltaic power generation can be an important source of household power consumtption," one expert said.