China’s newly added solar power capacity fell nearly 20 percent year on year for the January to September period, official data showed on Tuesday, hit by government efforts to reduce its spiraling subsidy bill by slashing new project approvals. The National Energy Administration (NEA) said at a briefing on Tuesday that newly installed solar generation capacity amounted to 34.54 gigawatts (GW) in the first three quarters of this year, down from 43 gigawatts a year earlier. After adding a record 53 GW in new photovoltaic capacity over all of last year, China capped total new capacity eligible for subsidies at 40 GW this year as it struggled to pay off a payment backlog of around 120 billion yuan ($17.2 billion). Renewable energy projects are entitled to a subsidy for each kilowatt-hour of power they sell to the grid, but China is trying to encourage developers to […]