China's National Energy Administration last week announced the tender of open bids for establishing 13 photovoltaic (PV) power-generating stations, each with an installation capacity of 20-30MWp for a total of 280MWp, in the northwestern region and Inner Mongolia, according to China-based hc360.com. The PV systems can be made of silicon-based or thin-film modules, but minimum energy conversion rates of 15%, 14% and 6.5% are required for monocrystalline silicon cells, polycrystalline silicon cells and thin-film modules, respectively.

According to industry sources in China, the subsidized electricity price for the PV projects will likely range between 1.1-1.3 yuan/watt (US$0.16-0.19). Bidding is expected to take place on August 10, 2010 and results will be announced at the end of the same month.

Details for a more comprehensive FIT (feed-in-tariff) policy could be released around the same time, the sources said, noting that such an announcement should offset some of the negativity surrounding the uncertainty of Germany's upcoming subsidy cut.

Though initially it will be difficult for foreign companies to compete with China's vertically integrated solar companies, China is still a massive market that can support numerous players, the sources said.