Photovoltaics for Rural Electrification in the People's Republic of China

Rapid growth in economic development, coupled with the absence of an electric grid in large areas of the rural countryside, has created a need for new energy sources both in urban centers and rural areas in China. The most critical need for rural electrification exists in northern and western China, where 80 million people had no access to grid electricity at the end of 1995. In February 1995, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Protocol Agreement with the Chinese State Science and Technology Commission in Beijing. Under this agreement, NREL is providing assistance to several central government and provincial government agencies in China to develop photovoltaic and photovoltaic hybrid applications for rural electrification.