According to the Chinese National Renewable Energy Center (NREC), solar PV capacity additions in the first quarter of 2019 declined by 46% to 5,211 MW compared to the first quarter of 2018, when 9,650 MW of solar PV capacity was installed (+22% compared to the first quarter of 2017).
Additions have significantly slowed down since the revisions in the feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme in 2018. In June 2018 the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance issued the "2018 Solar PV Power Generation Notice", a policy regarding investment and subsidies for photovoltaic (PV) installations. This regulation introduced a CNY5c/kWh (US$0.74c/kWh) cut in the nationwide FiT and in the subsidies for PV distributed projects in an attempt to avoid the industry from overheating. The on-grid power tariffs have been ranging between CNY0.5/kWh to CNY0.7/kWh (US$7.4-10.4c/kWh) since 1 June 2018, while the subsidies for county-level poverty alleviation PV projects remained stable. At the time the NDRC and the National Energy Administration established that the construction of new solar utility-scale power projects was to be halted until further notice. The utility-scale target for 2018 was abolished and all Chinese provinces were forced to impose bans on all companies seeking FiTs under any 2018 mechanism.
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