China see consistent decrease in solar costs

China is expected to see consistent decrease in the costs of solar power generation, as the country continues to forge ahead with its climate targets, according to a recent report.

Driven by technological advancements and scale effect, China has seen significant drops in the costs for solar modules and fully installed solar systems in the past decade, according to the Technology Outlook on Wind and Solar Power toward China's Carbon Neutrality Goal.

From 2007 to 2022, the average cost for the module dropped from 36 yuan ($5) to 1.95 yuan per watt, said the report, which was made public on Monday by the Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Tsinghua University. 

China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality before 2060.

The average cost for a fully installed solar system stood at 4.13 yuan per watt in 2022, compared with 60 yuan per watt 15 years ago, it noted. 

The report said the costs are expected to keep declining in a gradual manner before 2030, as the price of raw materials for module production continues to fall and the efficiency of PV cells keeps upgrading.

By the time, the cost for the module will further go down to 1.1 yuan per watt, it said. 

It said the initial investment needed for every watt of capacity will reach 3.17 yuan for ground-mounted solar systems and 2.81 yuan for distributed commercial and industrial PV solar systems. 

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn