(Yicai) Nov. 14 -- China’s installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic power generated by households is nearly equivalent to that of five Three Gorges hydropower stations, according to the latest data.

China's residential solar installations has reached 105 million kilowatts by September, the National Energy Administration said today. The Three Gorges Dam, which is the largest hydropower station in the world, has a capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.

Shandong, Henan and Hebei provinces are the top three provinces in terms of installed capacity of household PV power, accounting for about 60 percent of the country’s total, it said.

The number of homes hosting rooftop solar systems has been growing quickly in recent years thanks to government support. And as a result, more companies, such as Longi Green Energy Technology and Jinko Solar, are moving into this sector.

TV maker Skyworth Group, for instance, which entered the residential PV industry in 2020, built solar power stations to serve over 140,000 households last year. Its revenue from the segment nearly tripled in 2022 from the year before to CNY11.9 billion (USD1.6 billion).

There is huge potential in the country’s rural areas, which have over 80 million households and 27.3 billion square meters of roof for PV installations, an institution said.

But residential PV faces problems in some provinces, with limited power distribution and low efficiency, said Shi Jingli, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of macro-economic planner the National Development and Reform Commission.

In order to better withstand fluctuations in electricity prices, companies should enhance the distribution of PV power by using energy storage, cooling and heating systems as well as locally generated electricity, said Lv Dongying, deputy general manager of Huaneng Renewables. The NDRC and the NEA are also encouraging distributed PV power to participate in the spot electricity market.

Editor: Kim Taylor