China recorded total PV production value of CNY150 billion (US$24.3 billion) for the first half of 2014, according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The PV production consisted of 62,000 tons of polysilicon, increasing on year by 100%; 18.0GWp of solar-grade crystalline silicon wafers, up 20%; and 15.5GWp of crystalline silicon solar cells and PV modules, up 34.8%, MIIT noted. The average energy conversion rate was 19.3% for monocrystalline silicon solar cells and 17.8% for polycrystalline models stood.
In first-half 2014, China imported 45,900 tons of polysilicon worth US$1 billion, growing on year by 17% and 38.8% respectively. Exported solar-grade crystalline silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules totaled US$8.2 billion, rising by 15.9%.
Polysilicon's average price increased 29.3% on year, while PV modules' rose 7.3% in first-half 2014.
The country's top-five polysilicon makers accounted for 80% of the total production capacity in first-half 2014, while the capacity share for its top-10 PV module makers totaled 60%.
PV systems connected to grids during the period totaled 3.3GWp in installation capacity, consisting of 1.0GWp for rooftop systems and 2.3 GWp for ground-mounted ones.