Political connections,government subsidies and firm financial performance: Evidence from renewable energy manufacturing in China

The relationship among political connections, government subsidies and firm financial performance of wind and solar manufacturing companies is analyzed based on panel data model. The results illustrate that government subsidies, in long and short-terms, have significant positive effects on the financial performance of wind energy manufacturing companies; however, a government background of firm executives weakens subsidy effects. In contrast, both key variables, government subsidies and an interaction term of subsidies & political connections, have insignificant effects on the financial performance of solar energy manufacturing companies. Following from the empirical analysis, this paper proposes the suggestions: (1) Reform subsidy policies of wind manufacturing companies, and increase indirect subsidies for key wind energy equipments. (2) Strengthen a strict supervision on wind energy manufacturing companies with political background. (3) Adopt effective measures to reduce individual decision-making in listed wind energy manufacturing companies, and promote collective decisions to reduce the institutional possibilities of rent-seeking. (4) Make clear rules for the use of government subsidies in solar energy manufacturing companies.     

Employment impacts of solar energy in Turkey

Solar energy is considered a key source for the future, not only for Turkey, also for all of the world. Therefore the development and usage of solar energy technologies are increasingly becoming vital for sustainable economic development. The main objective of this study is investigating the employment effects of solar energy industry in Turkey. Some independent reports and studies, which analyze the economic and employment impacts of solar energy industry in the world have been reviewed. A wide range of methods have been used in those studies in order to calculate and to predict the employment effects. Using the capacity targets of the photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in the solar Roadmap of Turkey, the prediction of the direct and indirect employment impacts to Turkey's economy is possible. As a result, solar energy in Turkey would be the primary source of energy demand and would have a big employment effects on the economics. That can only be achieved with the support of governmental feed-in tariff policies of solar energy and by increasing research-development funds.     

Government subsidies for the Chinese photovoltaic industry

Since 2009, the subsidy for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants had been launched, which effectively promoted the development of PV industry. At the same time, negative effects, like serious oversupply of PV industry, were brought about by these large scale governmental subsidies. Although governmental subsidy strongly supports the China PV companies, few of them have competitiveness in the global market. This dramatically conflictive phenomenon attracted many researchers’ attentions in recent years. However, investigations on the best entry and exit occasions of governmental subsidies for the PV industry were rarely reported in previous studies. Therefore, based on the existing division method of enterprise development model, classification of 72 PV companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China was firstly carried out in this paper. This is followed by studying the influence of governmental subsidies on the indexes of different stages of enterprise development. Finally, a conclusion was drawn that the governmental subsidies at Early Exploratory Stage can maximize the social and economic effects, suggesting the best entry occasion, and subsidies at Intermediate Stage and Mature Stage have little effects on its turnover and aggravate the overcapacity of PV supply, suggesting a suitable exit occasion.     

Perspectives for solar thermal applications in Taiwan

Taiwan has long depended on imported fossil energy. The government is thus actively promoting the use of renewable energy. Since 2000, domestic installations of solar water heaters have increased substantially because of the long-term subsidies provided for such systems. However, data on the annual installation area of solar collectors in recent years indicated that the solar thermal industry in Taiwan has reached a bottleneck. The long-term policy providing subsidies must thus be revised. It is proposed that future thermal applications in Taiwan should focus on building-integrated solar thermal, photovoltaic/thermal, and industrial heating processes. Regarding building-integrated solar thermal systems, the current subsidy model can be continued (according to area of solar collectors); nevertheless, the application of photovoltaic/thermal and industrial heating systems must be determined according to the thermal output of such systems.     

China’s photovoltaic industry policy performance from the perspective of global value chain

China’s solar energy capacity has enhanced significantly over the past two decades, and this source of energy is playing increasingly vital role in China’s power generation. This study first explained the mechanism of the global value chain and its uses, and then a photovoltaic (PV) system was investigated. We also studied China’s potential and economic viability of solar photovoltaic power, because the most significant problem solar PV systems is currently facing is to finance and find an investor to carry out the projects. It was found that the cost of manufacturing and purifying silicon in all solar panel producers (USA, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia) is nearly equal, because silicon is found to be abundant in all countries, and its purification method (polycrystalline method) is almost similar in all four countries.     

Subsidised Solar Lighting: The Only Option for 1 Billion People

Remote rural communities in developing countries are at a similar economic stage of development as was the developed world more than 100 years ago when electricity was used for more than 50 years for lighting and radio only. Not until people could afford refrigerators did electricity demand grow. Without direct capital subsidies by governments and cross subsidies by utilities the developed world would not be as developed as it currently is and certainly not those communities outside major cities and towns. Many rural areas in the developed world would be in a similar energy plight to those currently in the developing world! There currently is no technology that can meet a subsidy free energy supply anywhere in remote rural communities. The least cost option to meet the basic energy needs for the remote developing world is a properly designed solar system (systems designed up to an availability level not down to a price). To supply the one billion people without access to electricity would cost about US$112 billion (2005 $) in total subsidies using solar. But this will be less than the US$450 billion (2005) subsidy to meet their basic lighting needs using diesel energy.The user pays principle might work for McDonalds but 20 years working in developing countries has clearly demonstrated that there is something dramatically wrong with the current economic paradigms where basic infrastructure is required. It should not be the Private Sector that funds the development of remote rural lighting, they have demonstrated that they can only deliver too little too late, but the Public sector through their existing utilities with government direct subsidies if another generation is not to be lost to development. To demonstrate the need for a paradigm shift, over the past 20 years I have implemented and installed solar projects worth more than US$100million in many developing countries, but none with their utilities or energy departments. All the projects have been with rural development authorities that recognised the immediate need of their constituents and were not at all fussed by the concept of subsidisation. They actually know what it was like on the ground. Something that many energy authorities and utilities I fear have no idea about.     

我国光伏产业发展的路径

在太阳能光伏发电产业快速发展的同时,亟待识别、分析并把握该产业的成长路径及特点。文章介绍了我国太阳能资源的状况,阐述了我国光伏产业的发展现状,指出了影响太阳能光伏产业发展的主要因素,分别对我国光伏技术研发、产业规划、法律法规、电价政策及项目鼓励政策等5个方面进行了研究,分析了光伏产业发展的典型事件、成长过程及其规律、特点和发展路径。     

我国可再生能源发展对策

可再生能源的开发利用是应对气候变化和满足能源需求持续增长的最现实的举措。2009年我国风电和太阳能光伏发电保持了快速发展势头,其中风电装机容量估计达到约2200×104kW,但非化石能源消费量在能源消费总量中所占的比重仍然很低。2009年,我国能源消费总量约为31×108t标煤,其中水电、核电、风电等商品化非化石能源消费量约为2.3×108t标煤,约占能源消费总量的7.4%。要完成到2020年我国非化石能源在能源消费总量中所占比例达到15%的目标,任务非常艰巨。加快开发利用可再生能源是能源发展的重要任务之一,到2020年,可再生能源开发利用总量将在2008年的基础上增加2倍以上。我国目前和今后10多年时间内,可再生能源发展的重点是水电、风电、太阳能和生物质能。加快发展我国可再生能源的举措有:①继续做好水电建设工作,促进水电持续健康发展;②有序推进风电的规模化发展,显著提高风电在电力结构中的比重;③加快推广太阳能利用技术,扩大太阳能开发利用规模;④因地制宜开发利用生物质能,提高生物质能利用的现代技术水平。     

欧洲太阳能、风能产业发展及商品化实施方案

太阳能,风能作为可再生能源和替代能源受到欧洲各国的重视。它们通过减税,抵税,价格补贴等经济手段,鼓励扶持个人和企业发展太阳能,风能产业,大大推进了这一技术的产业化和商品化进程。     

Hydrogen electrical energy storage by high-temperature steam electrolysis for next-millennium energy security

It would be highly significant if energy, which is intimately related with the continued existence of human beings, were sustainable on the basis of the present resources for the next thousand years. The effectiveness of hydrogen for energy storage by high-temperature steam electrolysis is clarified by showing its features with reference to solar energy and nuclear energy for power storage as examples. It is also shown that use of hydrogen for energy storage would be effective for widespread utilization of current energy resources, such as renewables and nuclear energy, over the next millennium.     

Renewable energy in a market-based economy: How to estimate its potential and choose the right incentives

A model to explain and predict market-driven investment in renewable energy capital is proposed. The model is suitable for application to the biomass, wind, solar and ocean-derived energy industries. It basically assumes that, given a set of prices and a specific technology, the marginal efficiency of capital invested in these industries only depends on the productivity of the project's site and on its energy transport distance. As suggested by traditional investment theory, the model supposes that only those projects offering marginal efficiencies of capital above the current available rate of interest would be implemented, thus demarcating a region in the productivity–energy transport distance space where all the economically viable projects should lie. By relating this region to the geographic space available for development, total potential investment can be deduced. By using cash flows defined in variable energy transport distance and mean wind speed, a case study for the Chilean wind energy industry is presented. The use of the model to analyse the effect of alternative support schemes for wind energy in Chile is briefly demonstrated. It is concluded that for increasing the area economically available for the development of new wind farms, a research and development support scheme aimed at reducing investment cost of wind turbines by 25% is equivalent to a 20% price subsidy on energy.     

Economic analysis of an industrial photovoltaic system coupling with battery storage

The Energy and Evaluation Special Committee of the China Price Association proposed two types of bill for battery energy storage (BES) subsidies in 2017: the first was that energy storage should be subsidised based on the initial installation capacity of BES system, while the second was that it should be subsidised based on the energy discharged by the BES system during the operational period. The economic benefits of a distributed photovoltaic (PV) system or a distributed system with PV and BES in the overall life cycle are discussed in the context of an industrial zone in Shanghai. The results suggest that the net present value (NPV) of a PV‐BES system with an optimised configuration is higher than the NPV of a PV system alone. The NPV of a distributed PV system with four different BESs is found to decrease in the order Li‐ion > NaS > VFB > Pb‐C because of the characteristics of their batteries. The NPVs of PV‐BES systems increase in equal proportion to the increase in the BES subsidy based on installation capacity for these four BES systems, while they show an inequable growth rate of earnings for the same BES subsidy based on the energy discharged over the operational period. The second bill for BES subsidy is more beneficial to the BES industry than the first, as it encourages higher pay for more work.     

The progression of silicon technology acting as substratum for the betterment of future photovoltaics

To solve energy crisis, generation of clean and renewable energy sources are highly recommended. It not only solve energy‐related matters but also resolves environmental issues. A great number of renewable energy sources are present nowadays to resolve aforementioned issues, out of which photovoltaic modules is the preferable technology over others. Silicon is the native element to be used in photovoltaic module, due to its reasonable cost and band gap. The deciding parameters to harness solar energy to electricity rely upon solar irradiance and weather conditions. Here, we describe the rapid transformation of silicon as photovoltaic solar cell material that transfigured the photovoltaic industry. The photovoltaic industry initiated with monocrystalline silicon and multicrystalline silicon solar cell having conversion efficiency reached up to approximately 22.9% and 20.8%, respectively. The contemporary outburst for the trade of photovoltaic industry is due to the high manufacturing cost of silicon solar panels, which provided a chance for researchers to quest for advanced technology. It gave an opportunity for thin film solar cell to infiltrate in the market. This technology reduced the cost but on the expense of lower conversion efficiency.     

某15MW太阳能屋顶光伏发电工程的应用分析

在对太阳能屋顶光伏发电系统构成及发展意义阐述的基础上,通过对某15MW屋顶光伏发电工程大量实际数据的分析,表明太阳能屋顶光伏发电工程具有良好的社会、经济效益和广阔的发展前景。     

Application and development of solar energy in building industry and its prospects in China

China is the second largest country in energy consumption. More and more energy demand pressures cause the Chinese government to review its economy and energy policies in order to support the sustainable development. In China, the building sector amounts to 27.8% total energy consumption, which is only behind the industry sector. China has abundant solar energy resource, which is extensively applied to buildings. Therefore, solar energy utilization in buildings has become one of the most important issues to help China optimize the energy proportion, increasing energy efficiency and protecting the environment. Solar energy resource and its district distribution in China are introduced in detail in this paper, and the representative solar energy application to the building sector is highlighted as well. The solar energy utilization obstacles, especially policy disadvantages in building sector in China, are reviewed. Moreover, the application prospects of solar energy in building sector are presented in combination with the China economic and household industry growth.     

The energy subsidisation policies of Cyprus and their effect on renewable energy systems economics

In this paper, the energy subsidisation policies that are in effect in Cyprus are investigated with respect to their effect on renewable energy systems economics. Two subsidisation policies are investigated, those of renewable energy and fuels. These are contradictory, as one is in favour and the other is against the exploitation of renewable energies on the island, which is the declared Government policy. First, the policy measures are described and their effect on the economic viability of a solar system is investigated by means of an example. This concerns a solar industrial process heat system for which four types of collectors are considered. From the results presented it is clear that renewable energy subsidies create a positive impulse on renewable energies whereas the economic factors improve considerably when the subsidy for fuel is removed, as the expenditure made for the erection of a solar system replaces a more expensive fuel.     

The potential and economic viability of solar photovoltaic power in Ghana

In this study, the potentiality and economic viability of solar photovoltaic (PV) in Ghana was assessed using RETScreen software. 5 MW of grid-connected solar PV power system using SunPower SPR-320E-WHT-D PV module can be harnessed from Navrongo, Bawku, Wa, Tema, Bolgatanga, Axim, Salaga, Kintampo, Kete Krachi, Tamale, Hohoe, Koforidua, Ejura, Takoradi, Bole, Sunyani, Bibiani, Cape coast, Prestea, and Akuse, which requires US$17,752,179 of investment capital and 25,313 m² of land for PV installation. The potential of 5 MW grid-connected PV development for Accra, Kumasi, Wenchi, and Tafo are limited. However, there are solar PV energy potentials for low-capacity PV modules for these locations. Investing in solar photovoltaic technology is capital intensive in a developing country like Ghana. However, Government’s effort to provide incentives like subsidies and creating the economic environment for private sector investment will boost investment possibilities of renewable energy in Ghana, which can help in curbing the recent power outages and load shedding, thereby increasing productivity and economic resilience.     

Advise on policy formulation of energy storage industry for the development

随着我国能源结构的逐步调整,以风电、光伏为代表的可再生能源发电装机规模和消费比重大幅增加,同时以动力电池汽车为代表的新能源汽车产业正在快速发展,这对传统能源系统提出了巨大的挑战。储能技术可以通过能量的存储与再利用解决上述挑战,但我国的储能产业总体尚处于起步阶段,获得长足的发展进步并使储能产业获得广泛应用仍需时日。本文概述了储能技术的基本类型、评价指标体系、应用与发展趋势,分析了全球典型国家与我国的储能应用情况、配套政策及现存问题,并以此为依据提出了扶持储能产业健康发展的政策建议。     

我国光伏产业发展对策探讨

光伏发电是解决能源供应短缺和环境污染问题的有效途径,在国内政策以及外部有利市场环境的推动下,我国太阳能光伏产业发展迅速,在光伏制造业等领域已走在世界前列。2010年,国内光伏电池产量已达9GW,连续4年居世界首位;多晶硅产量已达4.5×104t。但我国光伏发电市场发展规模仍然较小,影响了光伏产业的总体可持续发展。2010年国内新增光伏发电装机容量500MW,仅占全球光伏新增装机容量的3%,国内光伏电池生产的销售市场对外依存度高达95%,产业发展具有极大的危险性。其主要原因是产业规划保守,发展目标低定;发电成本较高,民众承受能力有限;光伏电力的"间歇性"特征以及电网企业的国有垄断地位使得"入网难"问题仍未解决;投资回收期长,资本盈利率不高;地方政府追求短期经济效益,抓快放慢。德国在这方面的发展经验值得借鉴。当前,应在提高光伏发电占新能源产业发展规划比重、降低光伏产业对外依存度的同时,努力降低发电成本,同时大力发展规模储能和智能电网技术,并构建有力的政策支持环境,从根本上提升业界信心,实现我国光伏发电产业的大发展。