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An Empirical Study on the Efficiency and Influencing Factors of the Photovoltaic Industry in China and an Analysis of Its Influencing Factors

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  • Hao Cai

    (College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China
    Jiangsu Provincial Research and Development Center of Energy Internet and Large Data Integration Application Engineering Technology, Changzhou Vocational Institute of Engineering, Changzhou 213164, China)

  • Ling Liang

    (Tourism and Event Management School, Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Change Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620, China)

  • Jing Tang

    (Jiangsu Provincial Research and Development Center of Energy Internet and Large Data Integration Application Engineering Technology, Changzhou Vocational Institute of Engineering, Changzhou 213164, China)

  • Qianxian Wang

    (College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Lihong Wei

    (College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Jiaping Xie

    (College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China)

Abstract

The photovoltaic (PV) industry in China is still in the early stage of development and is extremely unbalanced; breakthroughs in key technologies are necessary. To achieve high efficiency and sustainable development, it is important to identify the bottleneck of the whole industry chain through the analysis of overall industrial technical efficiency. Based on the current situation of the PV industry, this study builds the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to respectively evaluate the efficiency of PV devices and power generation in the PV industrial chain. The Tobit model is used to conduct an empirical analysis of the factors affecting the efficiency of the PV industry. The results show that the industrial efficiency of PV devices is at a medium level and that it is necessary to strengthen regulation and awareness at the industrial scale. However, the PV power generation industry as a whole is at a low efficiency level, especially the inadequate technical level, which has a negative impact on the improvement of industrial efficiency. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions at the enterprise and government level are put forward to improve the efficiency of the PV industry in China.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6693-:d:291179
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