National Energy Administration and The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development launched the first batch of PV projects for poverty alleviation on 17th December with a power generation capacity of 5160 MW, in which village level PV power stations (including those for household use) accounted for 2180 MW and centralized ground PV power stations accounted for 2980 MW. These projects were distributed in 14 provinces and municipalities including Hebei, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangxi, covering more than 550 thousand poor families.

        The Notice on the Launching of the First Batch of PV Projects for Poverty Alleviation jointly issued by the two government departments on 17th December requires local governments to establish special mechanisms to manage the distribution of income from poverty alleviation projects and ensure their implementation. According to the Notice, the development and reform commissions (energy bureaus) and poverty alleviation departments of related provinces should take measures to improve the management mechanism of PV projects for poverty alleviation and urge local governments and investors to start the procedures for project approval and implementation as soon as possible in an effort to make them play a positive role in poverty alleviation and development.

        The Notice also has it that local governments on county level should ensure financial support and investment according to the implementation plan and coordinate with land resource, forestry and environmental protection departments to create a favorable environment for project implementation and the implementation of related policies. What's more, development and reform commissions (energy bureaus) and poverty alleviation departments of related provinces should also organize investors and operators of such projects to update information on project development, operation, income distribution and the targets of poverty alleviation on time on the national renewable power generation project information management platform.