In an attempt to meet its new greenhouse-emissions goal, China has planned an ambitious solar energy target, potentially brightening photovoltaic panel industry-related exchange traded funds.
Year-to-date, the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca: TAN) is up 1.3% and Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca: KWT) dipped 6.6%.
TAN includes a 21.4% weight toward Chinese solar panel makers while China is the largest country weight in KWT’s portfolio at 38.3%.
For the first time, Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that the country will cut fossil-fuel emissions by 2030. To help meet its goals, China is expected to install as much as 8 gigawatts of small solar systems this year, or 10 times more year-over-year, Bloomberg reports.
While China has about 20 gigawatts of solar capacity as of the end of 2013, the electricity is generated on large solar farms. Now, Beijing is pushing for increased rooftop installations. [Improving Fundamentals Keep Solar ETFs Powered Up]
“Solar is actually the most attractive when you do rooftop because it eliminates transmission and distribution investment,” Ahmad Chatila, chief executive officer of SunEdison Inc. (NasdaqGS: SUNE), said in the article.
SunEdison is negotiating with a Chinese partner to build a factory to produce as much as one gigawatt of solar projects. SUNE makes up 10.0% of TAN’s underlying portfolio and is 7.4% of KWT.