To accelerate technological progress and industry application of smart photovoltaics, promote deep integration of energy technology with modern information, new materials, and advanced manufacturing technologies, and comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of China's photovoltaic industry development, in accordance with the work deployment of the "Smart Photovoltaic Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan (2021-2025)," five departments including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued a notice to organize the fourth batch of smart photovoltaic pilot demonstration activities.

According to the notice, the five departments will support the cultivation of a batch of smart photovoltaic demonstration enterprises, including enterprises capable of providing advanced and mature smart photovoltaic products, services, system platforms, or overall solutions; and support the construction of a batch of smart photovoltaic demonstration projects, including projects that apply smart photovoltaic products, integrate and utilize new-generation information technologies such as 5G communications, big data, the Internet, and artificial intelligence, and provide users with smart photovoltaic services.

The pilot demonstration activities give priority to eight directions: photovoltaic-storage integration, building photovoltaics, transportation applications, agricultural and rural applications, photovoltaic greening, key information technology, advanced photovoltaic products, and new facilities and empirical testing. Among them, in terms of building photovoltaics, this includes building photovoltaic projects in which photovoltaics are organically integrated with buildings as building components such as roofs, curtain walls, or shading, and photovoltaic power generation is matched with building electricity loads.

Applicants for demonstration enterprises are product manufacturing enterprises, system integration enterprises, software enterprises, service enterprises, photovoltaic module recycling enterprises, and others in the smart photovoltaic field, and must have strong independent innovation capabilities, have mastered key core technologies in the smart photovoltaic field; have provided advanced and mature smart photovoltaic products, services, or systems; and possess a relatively high level of intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing. Applicants for demonstration projects are project organization and implementation units, which may be relevant application units, manufacturing enterprises, parks where the projects are located, third-party integrated service institutions, and others, and must have built smart photovoltaic applications or service systems with distinctive service content and close to regional development realities, possess flexible service expansion capabilities and long-term operation capabilities, and have innovative models featuring independent innovation, sustainable operation, and profitability.

In terms of management and incentive measures, the five departments will increase publicity and promotion of demonstration enterprises and demonstration projects, enhance the influence of pilot demonstrations, and expand the demonstration-driven effect. They will organize evaluations and assessments of demonstration enterprises and projects and dynamically adjust the list of smart photovoltaic pilot demonstrations. Government departments at all levels and all sectors of society are encouraged to increase support for pilot demonstration work, support demonstration enterprises in becoming larger and stronger in terms of policies, standards, projects, and resource support, and support the construction and promotion of demonstration projects.