DOMESTIC solar panel makers have urged the government to delay subsidy cuts and relax a cap on new projects, saying that the policy will damage a sector already struggling financially.

In a letter first sent to Xinhua this week, executives from 11 domestic solar firms said the move to withdraw support, announced June 1, had come far too soon. They said the sector had racked up huge debts to ensure it could compete with traditional power generators, and still needed another three to five years of government backing.

Immediate implementation of the policy would affect plants under construction, according to a letter from executives at firms like Sungrow Power and Canadian Solar, calling for “a certain grace period” for those that need it.

“There are people who believe the Chinese photovoltaic market has grown too quickly,” they said. “In fact, photovoltaic power generation occupies just 1.7 percent of the total.”

The National Energy Administration said Thursday, after the letter was first publicized, that it had met solar industry representatives Wednesday and promised to speed up the launch of a quota system forcing regions to buy more renewable power.

The country’s top economic planner said June 1 it would add just 30 gigawatts (GW) of capacity this year, down from a record 53 GW in 2017, as it tried to “optimize” the pace of construction. It would not approve new solar plants that required subsidies, and would cap smaller-scale “distributed generation” (DG) on rooftops at 10 GW, half of last year’s rate.

Surging solar capacity has left China’s power grids creaking, unable to build sufficient transmission infrastructure. The finance ministry has also had to find billions of yuan in subsidies owed to new projects.

The cap on DG projects also garnered mixed reactions from developers. (SD-Agencies)