SPI Solar’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Xinyu Xinwei New Energy Co., Ltd. (Xinwei), has received preliminary approval from the local government of LiaoCheng City to develop a PV project totaling approximately 10MW, in Shandong Province, China.

The project calls for the development of approximately 10 MW of distributed generation (DG) solar power for the Jia Ming Development Zone. Assuming final approval, construction of the project is scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter of 2014, with completion expected in 2015. This potentially marks SPI’s first DG project in China, as well as the company’s first solar PV project in Shandong Province.

With China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) policy initiatives as well as growing market demands, DG installations in China are expected to accelerate rapidly. It is forecasted to be 5GW of new DG installation in 2014.

“During 2014 we have seen dramatically increased commitment in China by both provincial and local governments toward developing renewable energy generation capacity, particularly with solar PV power generation. SPI will continue to expand its footprint across China’s PV markets,” said Min Xiahou, global Chief Executive Officer of SPI.

Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman of SPI, added “While distributed generation solar is still in the very ‘early innings’ of growth in China, we expect rapid adoption of DG in the coming years as both technology and financial solutions improve.”