China Sanctions 1.67 GW of New Sponsored Rural Solar Power Plants

China has announced that it has sanctioned the construction of 3,961 village solar power plants with a total capacity of 1.67 GW, as a part of programme intended at alleviating rural poverty and encouraging clean energy, the energy regulator said.

The National Energy Administration said in a notice that the projects, the second batch of a "photovoltaic poverty relief" programme, should be accomplished by the end of this year. Those not concluded on time will be acknowledged unentitled from the scheme.

China is dedicated to reducing the amount of subsidies granted to its solar power sector, but projects also designed to let go rural poverty will remain eligible for state support, it held in a new policy guidelines.