Featured in Mountains to climb – 05-2026

China’s policy reset

Document No. 136 (DN136) has ushered in a fundamental change in China’s energy policy. Just over a year after its introduction in February 2025, the country’s solar industry is now beginning to grasp the consequences of a shift that has effectively rewired its understanding of returns, capital allocation and risk. pv magazine’s Vincent Shaw reports that while Chinese solar and storage are still growing, neither has quite the same swagger as before.

By

Vincent Shaw

11 May 2026

Image showing Guangdong skyline with Canton Tower at the center.

DN136 can be implemented differently in different provinces. Guangdong is a clear example of a market-first province. | Photo: Tim Wu/Wikimedia Commons

For more than a decade, China’s renewable energy sector raced ahead while operating inside a kind of comfort zone. The central assumption rarely changed: once a project was built and connected to the grid, its returns were predictable. In 2025, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and its National Energy Administration (NEA) turned that …

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