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24 A COMPrEHENSIVE GUIDE TO SOlAr ENErGY SYSTEMS

Table 2.1 Conversion Efficiency of Conventional Crystalline Silicon Cells/(%)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Poly-Si 16.3–16.6 16.6–16.8 16.8–17.3 17.3–18.4 17.6–18.3 18–18.4 18.3–19.2
Mono-Si 17.8–18 18–18.5 18.5–19 19–19.3 19.1–19.5 19.3–19.8 19.8–20.8
Si-based thin 6 NA 10 NA NA NA NA
film
Source: Author’s compilation, with data from MIIT. Brief report on photovoltaic industry in 2016. Available at: http://www.miit.gov.
cn/n1146285/n1146352/n3054355/n3057643/n3057654/c5505791/content.html; 2017 [accessed March 2, 2017]; CPIA. China PV
industry review and outlook (report by Wang Bohua, the CPIA Secretary General). Available at: http://solar.ofweek.com/2017-02/ART-
260009-8420-30104440.html; 2017 [accessed February 17, 2017]; MIIT. Brief report on photovoltaic industry in 2013. Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Available at: http://www.miit.gov.cn/n1146312/n1146904/n1648373/c3336480/content.
html; 2014 [accessed April 23, 2014][4,12,13].

−1
poly-Si cells dropped to 80 kW h kg , the same as the international advanced level [4].
This recent progress has pushed China to the global frontier in cell technology (Table 2.1)
China’s 13th Five-year Plan for Solar Energy Development set a target of conversion
efficiency of 23% for advanced crystalline silicon cells produced on an industry scale by
the year 2020. China has the resource advantage of developing CIGS thin film cells due to
its abundance of indium and gallium. Hanergy, one of the leading manufactures of solar
cells in China and globally, has acquired the intellectual property rights on CIGS and GaAs
(gallium arsenide) technologies from other leading international cell players such as Soli-
bro, MiaSolé, Global Solar Energy, and Alta Devices. The company presently produces
CIGS and GaAs PVs in the laboratory with high efficiencies of 21% and 31.6%, respectively.
More than 85% of the solar cell market in China is taken up by back-surface field (BSF)
PVs. This situation is expected to be maintained for many years despite BSF cells facing
increased competition from other types of cells with new technology such as the PErC PVs
which currently make up, roughly, 10% of the market in China.
“China Efficiency” of various types of solar inverters on average reached 98.3%. The
China Efficiency is an average weighted efficiency value based on maximum power point
tracking efficiency at different input voltage conditions and on the climate conditions
of the location. The related technical standards were issued by the Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology in March 2015. The primary types of inverters used for large
utility-scale PV systems in China have been 1 MW, while 2 MW and even 3MW units are
increasingly popular. The inverter equipment for distributed PV systems involves switch-
ing from 40 kW/50 kW to more advanced grades. Meanwhile, the share of microinverters
in the market at home is increasing with more applications required for household PV
systems and other civilian PV products. Of the total shipment of China’s inverters, roughly
15% is exported.

2.2.2.2 Economics
As the industry scale continues to grow, PV power generation in China has become more
economical than before, due to technological progress and reductions in the price of PV
components. Investment costs of 10 000 t-grade poly-Si production line dropped to rMB