CP Clean Energy’s H1 output declines offset by PV

Solar accounted for just 3.96% of the diversified energy developer’s total electricity generation in the January-June period, at 184,899.77 MWh. The group’s natural gas projects generated 2,130,809.21 MWh of electricity in the first six months of the year, followed by hydropower projects at 1,118,184.23 MWh and wind farms at 984,843.74 MWh.

However, the amount of electricity generated by its solar projects in the first half soared roughly 51.6% from the preceding year. The group’s total installed PV capacity in China reached 297.43 MW at the end of June, suggesting that the group connected roughly 45 MW of solar to the grid in the first six months of the year.

The bulk of that new capacity came online with the expansion of an existing project in Zhangpu county, Fujian province. That installation reached its maximum installed capacity of 80 MW in late June. The group also switched on 5.24 MW of solar capacity in June in eastern China. That array — located in Yunhe county, Zhejiang province — will eventually be expanded to 14.38 MW.

In the first half of 2017, CP Clean Energy also began full operation of a 34.32 MW solar project in Panzhihua, Sichuan province. In addition, it started generating electricity at a 14.07 MW site in Jiangxi province that had already achieved grid connection in 2016.

In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the group also pointed to an “improvement” in the rate at which PV generation was curtailed from the Chinese grid in the January-June period. It did not elaborate on the curtailment issue, beyond noting that less power was curtailed from its wind projects in China throughout the first half of this year. About 7.6% of the electricity generated by CP Clean Energy’s solar projects was curtailed from the grid in 2016.

The improving curtailment rate and the commencement of new PV projects helped to offset the decline in total generation from the group’s other energy projects in the first half of this year. It primarily attributed the drop in generation to issues related to a natural gas project in Guangdong province and dry conditions in Fujian province, which negatively affected hydropower output.

Earlier this week, the group dropped its listing as China Power New Energy Development on the Hong Kong stock exchange. It now trades as CP Clean Energy, in a move that has been described as being part of a broader restructuring effort. The group posted a profit of 404.5 million yuan ($59.5 million) in 2016, from 108.2 million yuan in the preceding 12-month period. It was building 86.6 MW of solar capacity at four locations at the end of 2016.