On December 19, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the Comprehensive Standardization Technical System for Solar Photovoltaic Industry (2023 version) (hereinafter referred to as the Draft) for public comments. The deadline for submitting comments closed on 2 January 2024. The photovoltaic industry is positioned by the Chinese government as one of the essential emerging industries where standardization plays a critical role, according to the Implementation Plan for the Leading Engineering of Standardization in New Industries (2023-2035).
Figure 1: Photovoltaic Standard System
The document is composed of five parts:
- Overview of the photovoltaic industry development
- General requirements
- Standard system (refer to figure 1)
- Priorities
- List of standards
In addition to constantly improving the standard system, the document sets quantitative goals for photovoltaic standardization work. Specifically, the document sets a target to develop over 40 new national and sector standards by 2025. During this process, support will also be provided for association standards.
The document also provides a statistical overview of current photovoltaic standards (see the Table 1), covering those in-force, under development, to be developed, or to be researched. With a few adjustments, the statistics broadly match the list of standards attached in the draft. A total of 796 standards are involved, including national standards (both recommended and compulsory), sector standards and association standards. It is noteworthy that, in the list, certain IEC international standards are identified as standard projects to be researched, signaling a possible conversion into domestic standards in the future.
The document outlines the key tasks from five different perspectives, including top-design, industrial needs, stakeholders engagement, capacity building, and organizational support. The SAC/TC 90 on Solar Photovoltaic Systems, as the major standardization development body in China, recently concluded its 2023 annual working conference, which was attended by representatives from MIIT, committee members, observers, members of working groups and focus groups, standard drafting organizations, etc. The China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), serving as the secretariat unit of SAC/TC 90, drafted the Framework Diagram of the Comprehensive Standardization Technical System of Solar Photovoltaic Industry in the 14th Five-Year Plan. The current standard system in the document is developed based on the framework outlined by CESI, but providing more details regarding smart photovoltaic and green photovoltaic.
