太阳能板生产商First Solar开始进军中国市场。中国有望成为世界上最有前途的太阳能市场之一。总部位于亚利桑那州的第一太阳能公司（First Solar）周三表示，公司与中国有关部门签订了协议，将在未来10年内在内蒙古建造一座200万千瓦的太阳能发电站，造价估计为50亿至60亿美元。First Solar发言人说，这个数字显然是如今在美国修建一座类似太阳能发电站的成本；而未来在中国建造一座大型发电站成本很可能比这要低，原因主要是劳动力成本问题。First Solar已经拥有在美国修建较小型但规模仍可用于电网发电的太阳能发电站的合同。对于该公司来说，与中国有关部门达成的交易可能会带来翻天覆地的变化。First Solar首席执行长阿赫恩(Mike Ahearn)在接受采访时说，如果装机容量有200万千瓦，就可能改变太阳能的形像，从小规模变为核电站规模大小的设施。First Solar表示，这桩交易还表明，中国在清洁能源领域，并不一定对外国竞争关上大门。阿赫恩说，我认为，他们显然希望与有先进技术的公司合作，并且正在寻找低成本解决方案。尽管如此，最后First Solar可能必须在当地修建制造厂，以便为这个大型发电站提供设备。这个太阳能发电站是计划在鄂尔多斯市建造的一个规模更大的可再生能源园区的一部分。阿赫恩说，我认为，人们显然认为我们会在中国建制造厂。该公司计划在2019年前工厂全部完工前，先建造3万千瓦的装机容量。不过，正如在美国一样，First Solar需要政府提供一些帮助，以便实现这个项目：补助和输电设施。First Solar与鄂尔多斯市的交易符合中国政府设立太阳能补助项目的计划，比如采取的形式可以是向太阳能发电企业提供高于市场水平的上网电价。阿赫恩说，他和其他人预计中国太阳能发电上网电价将在15至25美分／度。与德国和西班牙等其他国家相比，这个水平相当低，不过可能足以让太阳能发电站具有相较传统电力来源的竞争力。另外一个担忧是电力传输问题。输电线路的不足已经阻碍了中国风力发电的发展。阿赫恩说，中国官员开始研究如何扩大该地区的输电基础设施，增强处理间断性发电的能力，比如太阳能板发电。阿赫恩说，要建造200万千瓦的装机容量，需要相当一些基础设施投资才行。他还表示，如果项目按计划进行，则有望帮助First Solar更进一步削减太阳能成本，原因是与鄂尔多斯市达成的这类大型交易，加上为太阳能发电站设立目标和合理价格的政府项目，这些都将为太阳能企业提供削减成本和降低价格所需的规模和透明度。Keith Johnson相关阅读太阳能行业回暖 中国厂商酝酿增产 2009-08-20朝鲜不缺“太阳能” 2009-08-20太阳能行业供大于求 中国企业受打击 2009-08-12专访：中国需要整顿太阳能行业 2009-07-03
By Keith JohnsonSolar-panel maker First Solar is cracking open the Chinese market, which could become one of the world's most promising for solar power.Arizona-based First Solar said today it signed a deal with Chinese officials to build a 2,000 megawatt solar-power plant in Inner Mongolia over the next decade at an estimated cost of $5 billion to $6 billion.That figure is apparently what it would cost to build a similar plant in the U.S. today; building a large plant in China in the future would likely cost less, due to labor costs especially, say First Solar spokesmen.For First Solar, which already has contracts to build smaller, though still utility-size, solar-power plants in the U.S., the Chinese deal could be a game-changer. 'If you have two gigawatts, it could change the image of solar power from niche to nuclear-plant-size installations,' said First Solar chief executive Mike Ahearn in an interview.The deal also shows, First Solar says, that China isn't necessarily slamming the door on foreign competition in the clean-energy space. 'I think they clearly want to be working with advanced technology and they're looking for low-cost solutions,' Mr. Ahearn added.That said, First Solar will probably end up building local manufacturing capacity to feed the big plant, part of a larger, planned Chinese renewable-energy park in the city of Ordos.'I think there's a clear expectation that we will build production capacity in China,' Mr. Ahearn said. The company plans to start with a 30-megawatt installation before ramping up installation to build the entire power plant by 2019.Just as in the U.S., though, First Solar needs a couple of assists from the government to make the project a reality: subsidies and power lines.First Solar's deal with Ordos City is contingent on plans by the Chinese government to create a solar-power subsidy program, for example in the form of above-market tariffs that utilities would pay for solar power. Mr. Ahearn said he and others expect that the Chinese solar tariffs will be between 15 and 25 cents a kilowatt-hour. That's fairly low compared to solar tariffs in other countries like Germany and Spain, but would probably be enough to make the solar power plant competitive with traditional sources of electricity.Another concern is electricity transmission, the lack of which has dogged China's development of wind power. Mr. Ahearn said Chinese officials are studying how to augment the region's transmission infrastructure and its ability to handle intermittent power sources, such as electricity from solar panels.'To do two gigawatts, that's going to require some substantial infrastructure investments,' Mr. Ahearn said.If it goes ahead as planned, the Chinese project could help First Solar cut the costs of solar power even further, Mr. Ahearn said, because large deals like the Ordos City contract and government programs that set targets and reasonable prices for solar-power installations will provide the scale and 'visibility' that solar companies need to cut costs and prices, he said.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
By Keith JohnsonSolar-panel maker First Solar is cracking open the Chinese market, which could become one of the world's most promising for solar power.Arizona-based First Solar said today it signed a deal with Chinese officials to build a 2,000 megawatt solar-power plant in Inner Mongolia over the next decade at an estimated cost of $5 billion to $6 billion.That figure is apparently what it would cost to build a similar plant in the U.S. today; building a large plant in China in the future would likely cost less, due to labor costs especially, say First Solar spokesmen.For First Solar, which already has contracts to build smaller, though still utility-size, solar-power plants in the U.S., the Chinese deal could be a game-changer. 'If you have two gigawatts, it could change the image of solar power from niche to nuclear-plant-size installations,' said First Solar chief executive Mike Ahearn in an interview.The deal also shows, First Solar says, that China isn't necessarily slamming the door on foreign competition in the clean-energy space. 'I think they clearly want to be working with advanced technology and they're looking for low-cost solutions,' Mr. Ahearn added.That said, First Solar will probably end up building local manufacturing capacity to feed the big plant, part of a larger, planned Chinese renewable-energy park in the city of Ordos.'I think there's a clear expectation that we will build production capacity in China,' Mr. Ahearn said. The company plans to start with a 30-megawatt installation before ramping up installation to build the entire power plant by 2019.Just as in the U.S., though, First Solar needs a couple of assists from the government to make the project a reality: subsidies and power lines.First Solar's deal with Ordos City is contingent on plans by the Chinese government to create a solar-power subsidy program, for example in the form of above-market tariffs that utilities would pay for solar power. Mr. Ahearn said he and others expect that the Chinese solar tariffs will be between 15 and 25 cents a kilowatt-hour. That's fairly low compared to solar tariffs in other countries like Germany and Spain, but would probably be enough to make the solar power plant competitive with traditional sources of electricity.Another concern is electricity transmission, the lack of which has dogged China's development of wind power. Mr. Ahearn said Chinese officials are studying how to augment the region's transmission infrastructure and its ability to handle intermittent power sources, such as electricity from solar panels.'To do two gigawatts, that's going to require some substantial infrastructure investments,' Mr. Ahearn said.If it goes ahead as planned, the Chinese project could help First Solar cut the costs of solar power even further, Mr. Ahearn said, because large deals like the Ordos City contract and government programs that set targets and reasonable prices for solar-power installations will provide the scale and 'visibility' that solar companies need to cut costs and prices, he said.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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