{"name":"Unit economics by country — Solarnation","description":"What a consumed kilowatt-hour costs per country: from the grid, with solar, with solar plus a battery, and against a diesel generator where the grid is unreliable. Plus payback and the net 25-year saving, for households and for businesses. Modelled estimates, not measurements.","url":"https://global.solarnation.be/countries/china","updated":"2026-09-22","licence":"CC BY 4.0","currency":"USD","assumptions":{"diesel_usd_kwh":0.35,"export_value_fraction_of_retail":0.25,"pv_lifetime_years":25,"battery_lifetime_years":15,"pv_output_at_year_25":0.85,"pv_oversizing":1.2,"capex_eur":{"pv_residential":[700,400],"battery_residential":[400,150],"pv_commercial":[450,200],"battery_commercial":[230,70]},"excluded":"discounting, maintenance, financing, subsidies, import duties, price escalation, peak shaving and arbitrage"},"reporting":{"payback_horizon_years":10,"note":"Paybacks longer than 10 years are reported on the site as \"over 10 years\"; this dataset carries the computed value."},"reference_rule":"Grid reliability tier 1 → the grid tariff, tier 3 → a diesel generator, tier 2 → both.","columns":[{"field":"labour_cost_multiplier","csv_header":"Labour cost multiplier (Belgium=1)","unit":"×","label":"Installation labour cost","definition":"Cost of installation labour relative to Belgium (1.0). Eurostat construction labour cost for Europe, elsewhere derived from GDP per capita. Hardware is priced the same worldwide; only the labour part is scaled."},{"field":"grid_access_pct","csv_header":"Grid access (% of population, World Bank)","unit":"%","label":"Grid access","definition":"Share of the population with an electricity connection (World Bank, most recent year)."},{"field":"grid_reliability_tier","csv_header":"Grid reliability tier (1-3)","unit":null,"label":"Grid reliability","definition":"1 = reliable (rare outages), 2 = moderate (occasional outages or regional load shedding), 3 = unreliable (frequent outages or structural load shedding). The tier decides what solar is compared against: the grid tariff, a diesel generator, or both."},{"field":"grid_usd_kwh","csv_header":"Grid price <segment> (USD/kWh)","unit":"USD/kWh","label":"Grid price","definition":"All-in retail price of a kilowatt-hour taken from the grid, the baseline every other figure is measured against."},{"field":"solar_lcoe_usd_kwh","csv_header":"Solar PV cost 25y <segment> (USD/kWh)","unit":"USD/kWh","label":"Solar cost over 25 years","definition":"Installation cost divided by everything the panels produce over 25 years, with output declining to 85 percent. The cost of the panels themselves, not of a consumed kilowatt-hour."},{"field":"mix_pv_usd_kwh","csv_header":"Mix cost PV only <segment> (USD/kWh)","unit":"USD/kWh","label":"Cost per kWh with solar","definition":"What a consumed kilowatt-hour costs with solar and no battery: grid purchase for the uncovered hours, plus the installation written off, minus the revenue on exported power."},{"field":"mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh","csv_header":"Mix cost PV + day-night battery <segment> (USD/kWh)","unit":"USD/kWh","label":"Cost per kWh with solar and battery","definition":"The same calculation with a battery that carries one night, written off over 15 years."},{"field":"mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh","csv_header":"Mix cost PV + 3-day battery vs diesel <segment> (USD/kWh)","unit":"USD/kWh","label":"Cost per kWh against diesel","definition":"Cost of a consumed kilowatt-hour where the alternative is a generator: solar with three days of storage, with the generator covering what is left."},{"field":"net_saving_25y_usd_kwp","csv_header":"Net 25-year saving PV only <segment> (USD per kWp)","unit":"USD/kWp","label":"Net saving over 25 years","definition":"What one kWp of solar saves over 25 years after deducting the installation: self-consumption at the retail price plus exports at a quarter of it."},{"field":"payback_pv_years","csv_header":"Payback PV only <segment> (years)","unit":"years","label":"Payback, solar only","definition":"Years until the annual saving has paid back the installation, without discounting. Longer than ten years is reported as \"over ten years\": at that horizon the assumptions matter more than the outcome."},{"field":"payback_pv_battery_years","csv_header":"Payback PV + day-night battery <segment> (years)","unit":"years","label":"Payback, solar and battery","definition":"The same, for solar plus a battery that carries one night."},{"field":"payback_pv_3day_years","csv_header":"Payback PV + 3-day battery <segment> (years)","unit":"years","label":"Payback, solar and three-day battery","definition":"The same, for solar plus three days of storage measured against the grid tariff. Three days of storage buys autonomy; against a cheap tariff it rarely pays for itself."},{"field":"payback_vs_diesel_years","csv_header":"Payback PV + 3-day battery vs diesel <segment> (years)","unit":"years","label":"Payback against diesel","definition":"Years until solar with three days of storage has paid for itself against the fuel and maintenance of a generator."},{"field":"annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp","csv_header":"Annual saving PV only <segment> (USD per kWp)","unit":"USD/kWp/year","label":"Annual saving","definition":"What one kWp of solar saves in a year: self-consumption at the retail price plus exports at a quarter of it."}],"country":"China","iso2":"CN","continent":"Asia","reference":"net","regions":[{"continent":"Asia","country":"China","region":"Tibet / Qinghai (highlands)","labour_cost_multiplier":0.29,"grid_access_pct":100,"grid_reliability_tier":1,"grid_reliability_label":"reliable","households_grid_usd_kwh":0.076,"households_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.021,"households_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.055,"households_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.078,"households_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.314,"households_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":798,"households_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":73,"households_payback_pv_years":12.1,"households_payback_pv_battery_years":17.8,"households_payback_pv_3day_years":58.2,"households_payback_vs_diesel_years":13.4,"businesses_grid_usd_kwh":0.108,"businesses_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.013,"businesses_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.059,"businesses_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.05,"businesses_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.192,"businesses_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":1838,"businesses_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":103,"businesses_payback_pv_years":5.3,"businesses_payback_pv_battery_years":7.4,"businesses_payback_pv_3day_years":23.4,"businesses_payback_vs_diesel_years":7.7},{"continent":"Asia","country":"China","region":"North / Inner Mongolia","labour_cost_multiplier":0.29,"grid_access_pct":100,"grid_reliability_tier":1,"grid_reliability_label":"reliable","households_grid_usd_kwh":0.076,"households_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.025,"households_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.059,"households_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.081,"households_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.33,"households_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":563,"households_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":62,"households_payback_pv_years":14.1,"households_payback_pv_battery_years":19.1,"households_payback_pv_3day_years":61.1,"households_payback_vs_diesel_years":14.2,"businesses_grid_usd_kwh":0.108,"businesses_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.015,"businesses_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.061,"businesses_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.053,"businesses_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.206,"businesses_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":1504,"businesses_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":89,"businesses_payback_pv_years":6.2,"businesses_payback_pv_battery_years":8,"businesses_payback_pv_3day_years":24.6,"businesses_payback_vs_diesel_years":8.1},{"continent":"Asia","country":"China","region":"East / Central","labour_cost_multiplier":0.29,"grid_access_pct":100,"grid_reliability_tier":1,"grid_reliability_label":"reliable","households_grid_usd_kwh":0.076,"households_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.032,"households_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.068,"households_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.094,"households_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.322,"households_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":207,"households_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":47,"households_payback_pv_years":18.7,"households_payback_pv_battery_years":23.5,"households_payback_pv_3day_years":61.5,"households_payback_vs_diesel_years":14.2,"businesses_grid_usd_kwh":0.108,"businesses_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.02,"businesses_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.068,"businesses_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.065,"businesses_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.195,"businesses_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":998,"businesses_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":67,"businesses_payback_pv_years":8.2,"businesses_payback_pv_battery_years":9.9,"businesses_payback_pv_3day_years":24.9,"businesses_payback_vs_diesel_years":8.1},{"continent":"Asia","country":"China","region":"South","labour_cost_multiplier":0.29,"grid_access_pct":100,"grid_reliability_tier":1,"grid_reliability_label":"reliable","households_grid_usd_kwh":0.076,"households_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.035,"households_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.071,"households_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.098,"households_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.325,"households_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":116,"households_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":43,"households_payback_pv_years":20.4,"households_payback_pv_battery_years":24.9,"households_payback_pv_3day_years":62.4,"households_payback_vs_diesel_years":14.4,"businesses_grid_usd_kwh":0.108,"businesses_solar_lcoe_usd_kwh":0.022,"businesses_mix_pv_usd_kwh":0.07,"businesses_mix_pv_battery_usd_kwh":0.067,"businesses_mix_pv_3day_vs_diesel_usd_kwh":0.196,"businesses_net_saving_25y_usd_kwp":868,"businesses_annual_saving_pv_usd_kwp":61,"businesses_payback_pv_years":9,"businesses_payback_pv_battery_years":10.5,"businesses_payback_pv_3day_years":25.3,"businesses_payback_vs_diesel_years":8.3}],"all_countries_url":"https://global.solarnation.be/data/unit-economics/all.json"}