The government announced new feed-in tariff prices and introduced facilitation measures to assist the private sector to install solar photovoltaic systems in outdoor car parks.

The current on-grid electricity price is 3 to 5 yuan per kilowatt-hour of electricity. Considering the significant reduction in the cost of developing distributed renewable energy systems, the government and power companies will lower the price level from tomorrow. Calculated per kilowatt-hour, the power generation capacity of renewable energy systems will be equal to or less than 10 kilowatts is four yuan, more than 10 kilowatts but not more than 200 kilowatts is three yuan, more than 200 kilowatts but not more than one megawatt is 2.5 yuan, and the pricing of renewable energy certificates remains at 0.5 yuan.

The government and two power companies introduced feed-in tariffs in 2018, allowing the private sector to sell renewable energy electricity produced to the power companies at a price higher than the general electricity tariff, providing incentives for the private sector to invest in renewable energy.

According to the government, compared with only about 200 private renewable energy equipment connected to the grid in the ten years before the launch of the feed-in tariff scheme, the two power companies received more than 20,000 applications from 2018 to the first quarter of this year, of which more than 18,000 applications have been completed. Approved, it is estimated that after the installation is completed, it can produce nearly 300 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to meet the electricity needs of about 90,000 households.

In terms of facilitating the installation of renewable energy systems by the private sector, the Environment Bureau and the Development Bureau have introduced facilitation measures to assist the private sector to install solar photovoltaic systems in outdoor parking lots. A solar photovoltaic system not higher than three meters shall be installed on the ground or main roof of the residential premises in a larger outdoor parking lot.

The Buildings Department will provide a fast-track approval service to process architectural plans for structures that are proposed to erect solar photovoltaic systems in outdoor parking lots. The approval time will be halved to 30 days. The application for construction consent can be submitted together with the architectural drawings.

In addition, the Department will grant full GFA waivers for larger outdoor car park parking spaces on the ground or main roof of non-domestic premises covered by solar photovoltaic systems, and accept the roof average above the highest usable floor space Height calculates the building height and determines the permissible superstructure and plot ratio of the building.