China approves 1.67 gigawatts of new subsidised rural solar power

[SHANGHAI] China has approved the construction of 3,961 village solar power plants with a total capacity of 1.67 gigawatts (GW), part of a programme aimed at alleviating rural poverty and promoting clean energy, the energy regulator said on Friday.

The National Energy Administration said in a notice that the projects, the second batch of a "photovoltaic poverty relief" programme, should be completed by the end of this year. Those not completed on time will be declared ineligible from the scheme.

China is committed to reducing the amount of subsidies granted to its solar power sector, but projects also designed to relieve rural poverty will remain eligible for state support, it said in a new policy guidelines last week.

REUTERS