IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v65y2016icp373-386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Operating performance, industry agglomeration and its spatial characteristics of Chinese photovoltaic industry

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Lingxian
  • Wang, Jieqiong
  • Wen, Haojie
  • Fu, Zetian
  • Li, Xinxing

Abstract

China is the world's largest energy consumer and is also leading in the solar photovoltaic industry. The solar energy industry, with advantageous clean and highly efficient production, is integral in maintaining the sustainable energy supply in an environmentally sensitive manner. Further development of the Chinese photovoltaic industry requires a status assessment for the current industrial setting. An analysis on the 58 Chinese photovoltaic listed enterprises is conducted in this study to analyze the operating performance, industry agglomeration and spatial characteristics of Chinese photovoltaic industry. Comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the enterprises’ operating performance are based on financial data by utilizing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method; Systematic analysis examines spatial characteristics through the application of the spatial autocorrelation analysis method. Results confirm the Chinese photovoltaic industry preliminarily appeared industry agglomeration with enterprises mainly distributed in east and north China, and gathered in developed coastal provinces. Superior performing photovoltaic enterprises are specifically located in north China. Most of the enterprises are in the up-stream or mid-stream of the photovoltaic industrial chain. Overall operating performance of the photovoltaic industry in China suffers from weak profits due to low technical efficiency. The key to improve the future development of these enterprises is the improvement of operating performance by strengthening technical efficiencies. Concurrently, governmental guidance should address profitable photovoltaic industry investments and improvement of production rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Lingxian & Wang, Jieqiong & Wen, Haojie & Fu, Zetian & Li, Xinxing, 2016. "Operating performance, industry agglomeration and its spatial characteristics of Chinese photovoltaic industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 373-386.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:65:y:2016:i:c:p:373-386
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.07.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116303355
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2016.07.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruhang, Xu, 2016. "Characteristics and prospective of China׳s PV development route: Based on data of world PV industry 2000–2010," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1032-1043.
    2. Yuan, Jiahai & Sun, Shenghui & Zhang, Wenhua & Xiong, Minpeng, 2014. "The economy of distributed PV in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 939-949.
    3. Zhang, Xiliang & Ruoshui, Wang & Molin, Huo & Martinot, Eric, 2010. "A study of the role played by renewable energies in China's sustainable energy supply," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4392-4399.
    4. Xie, Zhixiao & Yan, Jun, 2013. "Detecting traffic accident clusters with network kernel density estimation and local spatial statistics: an integrated approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 64-71.
    5. Zhang, Tonglin & Lin, Ge, 2016. "On Moran’s I coefficient under heterogeneity," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 83-94.
    6. Sun, Honghang & Zhi, Qiang & Wang, Yibo & Yao, Qiang & Su, Jun, 2014. "China’s solar photovoltaic industry development: The status quo, problems and approaches," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 221-230.
    7. Mekhilef, S. & Saidur, R. & Safari, A., 2011. "A review on solar energy use in industries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 1777-1790, May.
    8. Muller-Furstenberger, Georg & Wagner, Martin, 2007. "Exploring the environmental Kuznets hypothesis: Theoretical and econometric problems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 648-660, May.
    9. Ederer, Nikolaus, 2015. "Evaluating capital and operating cost efficiency of offshore wind farms: A DEA approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1034-1046.
    10. Zhao, Zhen-yu & Zhang, Shuang-Ying & Hubbard, Bryan & Yao, Xue, 2013. "The emergence of the solar photovoltaic power industry in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 229-236.
    11. Tang, Yong & Sun, Honghang & Yao, Qiang & Wang, Yibo, 2014. "The selection of key technologies by the silicon photovoltaic industry based on the Delphi method and AHP (analytic hierarchy process): Case study of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 474-482.
    12. Zhang, Da & Chai, Qimin & Zhang, Xiliang & He, Jiankun & Yue, Li & Dong, Xiufen & Wu, Shu, 2012. "Economical assessment of large-scale photovoltaic power development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 370-375.
    13. Milosavljević, Dragana D. & Pavlović, Tomislav M. & Piršl, Danica S., 2015. "Performance analysis of A grid-connected solar PV plant in Niš, republic of Serbia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 423-435.
    14. Kumar Sahu, Bikash, 2015. "A study on global solar PV energy developments and policies with special focus on the top ten solar PV power producing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 621-634.
    15. Zhang, Sufang & Zhao, Xiaoli & Andrews-Speed, Philip & He, Yongxiu, 2013. "The development trajectories of wind power and solar PV power in China: A comparison and policy recommendations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 322-331.
    16. Zhang, Sufang & He, Yongxiu, 2013. "Analysis on the development and policy of solar PV power in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 393-401.
    17. Zhi, Qiang & Sun, Honghang & Li, Yanxi & Xu, Yurui & Su, Jun, 2014. "China’s solar photovoltaic policy: An analysis based on policy instruments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 308-319.
    18. Radu Dan Rugescu (ed.), 2010. "Solar Energy," Books, IntechOpen, number 621.
    19. Wang, Yong-hua & Luo, Guo-liang & Guo, Yi-wei, 2014. "Why is there overcapacity in China's PV industry in its early growth stage?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 188-194.
    20. Zhao, Zhen-yu & Zhang, Shuang-ying & Zuo, Jian, 2011. "A critical analysis of the photovoltaic power industry in China – From diamond model to gear model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4963-4971.
    21. Rigter, Jasper & Vidican, Georgeta, 2010. "Cost and optimal feed-in tariff for small scale photovoltaic systems in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6989-7000, November.
    22. Kondo, Keisuke, 2015. "Spatial persistence of Japanese unemployment rates," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 113-122.
    23. Liu, Wen & Lund, Henrik & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Zhang, Xiliang, 2011. "Potential of renewable energy systems in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 518-525, February.
    24. Zhang, Sufang & Andrews-Speed, Philip & Ji, Meiyun, 2014. "The erratic path of the low-carbon transition in China: Evolution of solar PV policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 903-912.
    25. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    26. Liu, Li-qun & Wang, Zhi-xin & Zhang, Hua-qiang & Xue, Ying-cheng, 2010. "Solar energy development in China--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 301-311, January.
    27. Zhao, Xin-gang & Wan, Guan & Yang, Yahui, 2015. "The turning point of solar photovoltaic industry in China: Will it come?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 178-188.
    28. Zhang, Fang & Gallagher, Kelly Sims, 2016. "Innovation and technology transfer through global value chains: Evidence from China's PV industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 191-203.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huaimo You & Hong Fang & Xu Wang & Siran Fang, 2018. "Environmental Efficiency of Photovoltaic Power Plants in China—A Comparative Study of Different Economic Zones and Plant Types," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Hao, Yu & Guo, Yunxia & Li, Suixin & Luo, Shiyue & Jiang, Xueting & Shen, Zhiyang & Wu, Haitao, 2022. "Towards achieving the sustainable development goal of industry: How does industrial agglomeration affect air pollution?," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(1).
    3. Wang, Chaofan & Zhao, Yujia & Strezov, Vladimir & Shuai, Chuanmin & Cheng, Xin & Shuai, Jing, 2023. "Spatial correlation analysis of comprehensive efficiency of the photovoltaic poverty alleviation policy - Evidence from 110 counties in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    4. Hao Cai & Ling Liang & Jing Tang & Qianxian Wang & Lihong Wei & Jiaping Xie, 2019. "An Empirical Study on the Efficiency and Influencing Factors of the Photovoltaic Industry in China and an Analysis of Its Influencing Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Xiaodong Yuan & Weiling Song, 2022. "Evaluating technology innovation capabilities of companies based on entropy- TOPSIS: the case of solar cell companies," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 65-76, June.
    6. Chen, Xin & Zhou, Wenjia, 2023. "Performance evaluation of aquavoltaics in China: Retrospect and prospect," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Hongli Liu & Xiaoyu Yan & Jinhua Cheng & Jun Zhang & Yan Bu, 2021. "Driving Factors for the Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in Technical Efficiency of China’s New Energy Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    8. Yan, Chen & Ji, Yaxing & Chen, Rui, 2023. "Research on the mechanism of selective industrial policies on enterprises' innovation performance ——Evidence from China's photovoltaic industry," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    9. Arnold Csonka & Štefan Bojnec & Imre Fertő, 2021. "Spatial Transformation of the Pig Sector in Hungary and Slovenia: A Comparative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    10. Liu, Jicheng & Lin, Xiangmin, 2019. "Empirical analysis and strategy suggestions on the value-added capacity of photovoltaic industry value chain in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 356-366.
    11. Shuai, Jing & Cheng, Xin & Ding, Liping & Yang, Jun & Leng, Zhihui, 2019. "How should government and users share the investment costs and benefits of a solar PV power generation project in China?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 86-94.
    12. Yiping Liu & Jian Chen & Lingjun Wang, 2020. "Research on Self-Organizing Evolution Level of China’s Photovoltaic Industry Chain System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Zhou, Wei & Chen, Jin, 2021. "Is R&D helpful for China’s energy technology and engineering industry to respond to external uncertainties?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    14. Wang, Kai-Hua & Su, Chi-Wei & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2020. "Chinese renewable energy industries’ boom and recession: Evidence from bubble detection procedure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    15. Han, Mengyao & Xiong, Jiao & Wang, Siyuan & Yang, Yu, 2020. "Chinese photovoltaic poverty alleviation: Geographic distribution, economic benefits and emission mitigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Fang & Deng, Hao & Margolis, Robert & Su, Jun, 2015. "Analysis of distributed-generation photovoltaic deployment, installation time and cost, market barriers, and policies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 43-55.
    2. Xiong, Yongqing & Yang, Xiaohan, 2016. "Government subsidies for the Chinese photovoltaic industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 111-119.
    3. Corwin, Samuel & Johnson, Timothy L., 2019. "The role of local governments in the development of China's solar photovoltaic industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 283-293.
    4. Zhang, Sufang, 2016. "Analysis of DSPV (distributed solar PV) power policy in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 92-100.
    5. Song, Dongdong & Jiao, Hongtao & Fan, Chien Te, 2015. "Overview of the photovoltaic technology status and perspective in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 848-856.
    6. Fang, Yiping & Wei, Yanqiang, 2013. "Climate change adaptation on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau: The importance of solar energy utilization for rural household," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 508-518.
    7. Wu, Qiyan & Zhang, Xiaoling & Sun, Jingwei & Ma, Zhifei & Zhou, Chen, 2016. "Locked post-fossil consumption of urban decentralized solar photovoltaic energy: A case study of an on-grid photovoltaic power supply community in Nanjing, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1-11.
    8. Kayser, Dirk, 2016. "Solar photovoltaic projects in China: High investment risks and the need for institutional response," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 144-152.
    9. Yuan, Jiahai & Sun, Shenghui & Zhang, Wenhua & Xiong, Minpeng, 2014. "The economy of distributed PV in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 939-949.
    10. Urban, Frauke & Geall, Sam & Wang, Yu, 2016. "Solar PV and solar water heaters in China: Different pathways to low carbon energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 531-542.
    11. Shubbak, Mahmood H., 2019. "The technological system of production and innovation: The case of photovoltaic technology in China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 993-1015.
    12. Liu, Dawei & Shiroyama, Hideaki, 2013. "Development of photovoltaic power generation in China: A transition perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 782-792.
    13. Liu, Chang & Liu, Linlin & Zhang, Dayong & Fu, Jiasha, 2021. "How does the capital market respond to policy shocks? Evidence from listed solar photovoltaic companies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    14. Wei, Haokun & Liu, Jian & Yang, Biao, 2014. "Cost-benefit comparison between Domestic Solar Water Heater (DSHW) and Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems for households in urban China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 47-55.
    15. Wang, Yu & Zhou, Sheng & Huo, Hong, 2014. "Cost and CO2 reductions of solar photovoltaic power generation in China: Perspectives for 2020," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 370-380.
    16. You, Wei & Geng, Yong & Dong, Huijuan & Wilson, Jeffrey & Pan, Hengyu & Wu, Rui & Sun, Lu & Zhang, Xi & Liu, Zhiqing, 2018. "Technical and economic assessment of RES penetration by modelling China's existing energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 900-910.
    17. Ruyin Long & Wenhua Cui & Qianwen Li, 2017. "The Evolution and Effect Evaluation of Photovoltaic Industry Policy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-40, November.
    18. Zhang, Dahai & Wang, Jiaqi & Lin, Yonggang & Si, Yulin & Huang, Can & Yang, Jing & Huang, Bin & Li, Wei, 2017. "Present situation and future prospect of renewable energy in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 865-871.
    19. Li, Mingquan & Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia & Zhang, Junfeng (Jim), 2019. "Policies to promote energy efficiency and air emissions reductions in China's electric power generation sector during the 11th and 12th five-year plan periods: Achievements, remaining challenges, and ," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 429-444.
    20. Ruhang, Xu, 2016. "Characteristics and prospective of China׳s PV development route: Based on data of world PV industry 2000–2010," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1032-1043.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:65:y:2016:i:c:p:373-386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.