City-level analysis of subsidy-free solar photovoltaic electricity price, profits and grid parity in China

Jinyue Yan (), Ying Yang (), Pietro Elia Campana and Jijiang He
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Jinyue Yan: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Ying Yang: Mälardalen University
Pietro Elia Campana: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Jijiang He: Tsinghua University

Nature Energy, 2019, vol. 4, issue 8, 709-717

Abstract: Abstract In recent years, China has become not just a large producer but a major market for solar photovoltaics (PV), increasing interest in solar electricity prices in China. The cost of solar PV electricity generation is affected by many local factors, making it a challenge to understand whether China has reached the threshold at which a grid-connected solar PV system supplies electricity to the end user at the same price as grid-supplied power or the price of desulfurized coal electricity, or even lower. Here, we analyse the net costs and net profits associated with building and operating a distributed solar PV project over its lifetime, taking into consideration total project investments, electricity outputs and trading prices in 344 prefecture-level Chinese cities. We reveal that all of these cities can achieve—without subsidies—solar PV electricity prices lower than grid-supplied prices, and around 22% of the cities’ solar generation electricity prices can compete with desulfurized coal benchmark electricity prices.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0441-z

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