Photovoltaic panels are being installed on the rooftops of more public office buildings in Dalian, Liaoning province, providing a continuous supply of green energy for the buildings amid the city's efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

"At present, the two photovoltaic systems at the Communist Party of China Dalian Committee and the city government office buildings are running stably," said Liu Xushuai, a project director from Liaoning Guoheng New Energy Co, which is in charge of the construction, operation and maintenance of Dalian's green lighting project.

"It can generate more than 500 and 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day and can meet about half of the daytime electricity demand of the two buildings," he said.

According to Liu, the PV panels on the two rooftops can generate approximately 400 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent to saving 160 metric tons of standard coal.

They are considered significant for promoting the development and construction of the photovoltaic plus comprehensive smart energy project on the roofs of city-owned buildings in Dalian and Northeast China.

In June 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission issued an implementation plan for peak carbon in the urban and rural construction sector.

It emphasized the promotion of integrated construction of solar photovoltaic panels in buildings. By 2025, the goal is to achieve a solar photovoltaic coverage rate of 50 percent for newly constructed public institutions and factory roofs.

The plan also encourages the installation of solar photovoltaic systems on existing public building rooftops.

Dalian's green lighting project aims to utilize idle rooftop spaces for distributed PV power stations, and make Dalian a national bench mark for PV energy usage.

It is constructing distributed PV power stations on the rooftops of Party and government offices, public institutions, and State-owned enterprises to supply green electricity for daytime power consumption in public buildings and nighttime landscape lighting.

At a water treatment plant owned by Dalian Water Affairs Group, PV systems are being installed on the 25,000-square-meter roof of the underground water storage tanks.

According to Liu, the construction is expected to be completed by the end of December, with an estimated annual power generation capacity of 6.6 gigawatt-hours.

Similar distributed PV projects are also progressing at eight locations across Dalian. Once completed, the projects will generate more than 11 gigawatt-hours annually, said Liu.

On Dec 6, the National Development and Reform Commission released a list of the first batch of 25 pilot cities, including Dalian, plus 10 high-tech industrial development parks that will aim to peak carbon dioxide emissions.