Aerial photo taken on Aug. 17, 2020 shows a photovoltaic power station at the green industrial development park in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Hainan, northwest China's Qinghai Province. The photovoltaic power station here not only generates electricity but also helps increase the income of impoverished people. (Xinhua/Zhang Long)

 
Chinese industry ministry together with energy and market supervision regulators on Wednesday issued a notice to promote and optimize the development of photovoltaic industry, warning against price gouging and hoarding.

Industry insiders said the notice signals a tightening of regulation on the booming photovoltaic industry and concrete standards are expected to follow to guide the health development of the industry.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in the notice that due to a mismatch in supply and demand , severe price fluctuations, and hoarding in the supply chain of the photovoltaic industry and market fragmentation, there is an urgent need to deepen market management.  
The notice requires all localities to coordinate development and security, guide the expansion pace of upstream and downstream industry, and optimize the industrial regional layout to avoid industrial convergence, vicious competition and market monopoly.

It also urged relevant department to optimize business environment, regulate the market order, support fair market competition of market entities, and guide the capitals to invest in photovoltaic industry in accordance with the dual carbon target.

Local market supervision departments should strengthen supervision and severely crack down on illegal activities in the photovoltaic industry such as price bidding, monopoly practices and the production and sale of fake products, said the industry ministry.

It also cautioned against compulsory investment in supporting industries and reselling materials and resources within the industry.

The notice encouraged relevant enterprises to develop reserves of polysilicon, batteries and other materials and support companies to build a supply chain big data platform to improve the resilience and adaptability of the industry.

In 2021, the value of China’s photovoltaic industry exceeded 750 billion yuan ($109 billion), according to China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA).

In terms of the photovoltaic market, 54.88GW of photovoltaic grid-connected installed capacity was added nationwide in 2021, up 13.9 percent year-on-year while the cumulative installed PV grid-connected capacity reached 308GW, both ranking first in the world, according to CPIA. 

A stronger regulation is timely and needed for the quickly expanding market, Li Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Since the capital market is very supportive of the sector, and some listed companies have to make their scale as large as possible, which may lead to monopolies, Lin said.

Also, as photovoltaic industry is highly resource related it may lead to resources being preempted by competing interests, he added.

“It is expected that concrete market standards will be followed to define such illegal activities,” Lin said.