Recently, a friend who went home early for the New Year found that many houses in the village were equipped with solar photovoltaic panels on their roofs. From a high place, the ancient village has added a lot of modern atmosphere.
This is Longmenji Village, Jiuji Town, Nanzhang County, Xiangyang, Hubei Province. In recent years, with the improvement of the living standards of villagers, most villagers have built two-story or three-story buildings. In recent years, more and more dark blue photovoltaic panels have appeared on the roofs of small buildings.
According to the Longmenji Village Committee, there are currently 28 households in the village that have installed distributed household photovoltaics, with a total of 558 photovoltaic panels installed, covering an area of 1,600 square meters and a total capacity of 386 kilowatts.
"The roof is idle, so I rent it out and earn 1,980 yuan a year." According to the villagers, their roof was the first to be installed with photovoltaics in the village. It has been installed for half a year, and more than 90 photovoltaic panels have been installed.
Villages like Longmenji Village with dense photovoltaic installations are not uncommon. Especially in recent years, in areas with good lighting conditions such as Shandong and Henan, more and more villagers choose to invest in rooftop photovoltaics, or rent out their idle roofs like Lu Dayi and collect fixed rents.
According to data from the National Energy Administration, by the end of September 2024, the cumulative installed capacity of household photovoltaics in my country will reach 150 million kilowatts, and more than 6 million rural households have installed power stations, with an annual power generation of more than 140 billion kWh of green electricity. It can be seen that rural areas are definitely the main battlefield for the development of household photovoltaics in my country.
However, as household photovoltaics are being promoted in full swing in vast rural areas, many people are also puzzled: Why do photovoltaic companies prefer to invest in rural areas, but rarely install in urban communities? Is there any routine in this?
At present, "popularization of photovoltaic science for all" is still in its early stages, and it is normal for ordinary people to have such doubts. In fact, there are not so many twists and turns. Enterprises choose rural roofs for photovoltaic development mainly because they have more advantages in terms of process, cost, resource conditions, etc.
01. From the development process
Compared with cities, rural areas have significantly simpler installation procedures for photovoltaic projects. For example, generally speaking, as long as a cooperative relationship is reached with the village committee, and the village committee participates in the mobilization of villagers, the installation of dozens of rooftop photovoltaic power stations in the entire village can be quickly promoted. This centralized processing method greatly improves work efficiency.
The situation in the city is quite different. If each household wants to install photovoltaic equipment on the roof, it is necessary to apply to the property for a certificate separately; for non-exclusive roofs, it is necessary to obtain the unanimous consent of all residents in the same unit. This process is not only cumbersome, but also very easy to cause conflicts between neighbors, resulting in a long time.
In addition to the differences in procedures, urban and rural areas also present different characteristics in complaint handling. In rural areas, complaints are rare due to relatively simple interpersonal relationships, and the handling is often more direct and efficient; but in urban communities, neighborhood relationships are relatively complex, and complaints involving photovoltaic installation are more common. Especially in the meter hanging link, the meter hanging location in urban communities is limited, and it is often located on the outer wall of the ground floor neighbor. Once a dispute arises, it is very easy to cause the entire project to stagnate.
In contrast, the installation environment of rural single-family houses provides great convenience for the smooth progress of photovoltaic projects, and the choice of the location of the meter is more flexible and free.
02. From the perspective of development cost
Compared with cities, the cost of rooftop photovoltaic installation in rural areas is also lower. Although small buildings are now popular in rural areas, they are generally only 3 to 5 floors. At this height, photovoltaic installation can be completed by manually moving materials. However, high-rise buildings in cities are different. Photovoltaic materials need to be transported to the roof by crane. After installation, the wire leading to the meter box is more than 15-30 meters long.
Investing in photovoltaics in low-rise buildings in rural areas can obviously save a lot of labor, material and other costs.
03. From the perspective of resource conditions
The roofs in rural areas are mostly flat and spacious, like undeveloped treasure houses. And compared with roofs in cities, the idle rate of rural roofs is higher, because the habit of rural residents to hoard food is gradually weakened, and roofs are no longer the first choice for drying crops. These vacant roofs are the ideal installation places for photovoltaic power generation systems.
According to statistics, according to the calculation that 20% of the 200 million rural households in the country have installed household photovoltaics, the potential users of household photovoltaics will exceed 40 million households!
04. From the perspective of economic benefits
Finally, from the perspective of economic benefits, many photovoltaic companies invest in photovoltaics in rural areas, often by renting roofs and paying rent, with a roof of one or two hundred square meters paying 1,000 or 2,000 yuan per year.
For urban residents with relatively good economic conditions, these rents are often just small money and are not attractive.
But for many rural families, it is a long-term and fixed income that can be obtained without investment.
Especially in recent years, with the strong support of the country, photovoltaics are gradually becoming an important driving force for rural revitalization. More and more places are orderly promoting the construction of distributed photovoltaics on rural roofs, helping the masses increase their income and adding "light" and "energy" to rural revitalization.
For example, in Huanzhou Township, Wuding County, Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, in recent years, the township government has actively guided villagers to use their idle roof space to install solar panels to obtain tangible economic benefits.
According to the villagers who installed the "photovoltaic panel" awning, "Our roof is empty anyway. We don't spend a penny and don't have to do anything. Once it is connected to the grid, we can continue to generate thousands of yuan in income every year. This is really a great thing for us!"
It turns out that each photovoltaic panel installed can get an annual subsidy of 35 yuan and a rental fee of 20 yuan. Each additional "photovoltaic panel" sunshade on the roof can add thousands of yuan in income each year.
According to data, as of now, Huanzhou Township has installed a total of 419 photovoltaic modules, with a photovoltaic power generation system capacity of 263.97 watts. Farmers have received an additional subsidy income of 14,650 yuan and rental income of 8,380 yuan, generating a village collective income of 7,000 yuan. In 2024, the project is expected to increase the village collective economy by more than 20,000 yuan.
In Tongguan Town, Mojiang Hani Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, many villagers have also enjoyed such "sunshine income".
According to reports, 15 townships (towns) in Mojiang County are currently fully rolling out the construction of distributed photovoltaic projects, making full use of most of the idle roofs in rural areas. The rent of 8 yuan per square meter can increase the annual income of each household by about 1,000 yuan, and farmers can obtain stable rental income for at least 25 years.
In 2024 alone, Mojiang County completed the rooftop distributed photovoltaic project with an installation area of 184,600 square meters of photovoltaic panels, with a total investment of 259 million yuan, and the completed grid-connected capacity has reached 10.5 megawatts.
