China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has issued a new notice on advancing the “Lighting Up Thousands of Households” Initiative, emphasizing market-driven development for rural distributed solar projects.
Source: People's Daily
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has issued a new notice on advancing the “Lighting Up Thousands of Households” Initiative, emphasizing market-driven development for rural distributed solar projects. The notice makes it clear that local governments must not designate specific businesses, impose mandatory industry tie-ins, create monopolies through exclusive franchises, or take any actions that harm farmers’ interests. The goal is to ensure the healthy and sustainable growth of distributed solar power.
Since launching a pilot program in 2021 for county-level rooftop solar development, China has seen rapid progress in distributed photovoltaic (PV) projects. Fifty-six counties across provinces including Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hunan, Hainan, and Shaanxi have successfully met their pilot targets.
Unlike large-scale solar farms, distributed PV systems generate electricity on-site for local consumption. By the end of 2024, China’s installed capacity of distributed solar power had reached 370 gigawatts—121 times the level in 2013—accounting for 42% of the country’s total solar capacity. However, as the sector grows rapidly, integrating new solar power into the grid has become a key challenge.
The NEA’s notice calls for region-specific guidelines to streamline project approvals, construction, and grid connections for rural solar installations. It urges local governments to take a scientific, well-planned approach to development, ensuring projects are built in an orderly manner, connected to the grid efficiently, and consumed locally. Power grid companies and other stakeholders are expected to upgrade infrastructure as needed to accommodate more distributed solar power, helping to secure long-term sustainability. To support this, grid operators should simplify internal processes, set up fast-track service channels, provide “one-stop” solutions, and increase investment in rural grid upgrades to improve their capacity for integrating and managing distributed solar energy.
The notice also highlights the need for better operation and maintenance of rural solar systems. Local authorities are encouraged to leverage the expertise of grid operators and renewable energy companies to set up multi-level energy service stations at the village and township levels. These stations, run through market-based and community-driven models, would provide professional maintenance services to ensure the long-term efficiency and reliability of household solar systems.
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