Shell Solar wins second Chinese mini-grid contract 

Shell Solar GmbH has won a contract to provide solar-powered electricity to 12 remote villages in the Qinghai province of southwest China. 

© SMA Technologie AG Repeat performance: While not as big as an earlier PV mini-grid contract in China, the new award for 80 kW continues Shell Solar's leading role in the country's Brightness Program.

Under the contract, valued at more than 13.6 million CNY ($1.6 million), Shell Solar will install 80 kW worth of centralized mini-grids in the villages as part of a pilot program funded jointly by the German Development Bank (KfW) and China's Ministry of Finance. Installation of the systems, serving 551 households, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005. Unlike another Chinese contract awarded in April to RWE Schott Solar in neighboring Gansu province (see article, p. 65), the Shell installation will not include any diesel generators, according to Irene van Luijken, corporate communications manager for Shell Solar. 

The award builds on a contract for €2.7million ($3.5 million) won by Shell Solar in Nov. 2003 (see PI 1/2004, p. 31) for the electrification of 1,300 households in 26 villages in Yunnan province and the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, with a total installed power of 200 kW. The company has had a PV presence in China since July 2001, when it won a €23 million ($29.6 million) contract to supply 78,000 solar home systems in Xinjiang. This included a €13.8 million ($17.8 million) grant from the Dutch government (see PI 9/2001, p. 20).

William P. Hirshman
© PHOTON International, June 2005