By the end of 2025, 63 solar projects in Shandong province had failed to connect to the grid on schedule, reported China Energy Network. They involve 35 state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The defaults mean those projects will not be allowed to connect to the Shandong power grid under the market-based framework. In practice, this renders those investments stranded.
The Shandong defaults mirror a trend seen elsewhere in China, in the second half of 2025, of SOE-funded solar projects being withdrawn or cancelled, the outlet noted.
Shandong’s energy bureau recently issued a notice stating that the 63 approved projects, with a combined capacity of 5.84 gigawatts (GW), had not been completed on time and were therefore defaulting on their commitments, China Energy Network stated.
However, the bureau gave a reprieve for 29 of the 63 projects for which construction had begun and which had generated investment, and whose funders expressed willingness to continue construction, according to the outlet. They must be completed by the end of 2026 or face becoming ineligible for market-based grid connection, it said.
The 5.84 GW of capacity represents around 6% of Shandong’s total solar installed capacity, which reached 91GW by mid-2025 – the highest among Chinese provinces. The delayed capacity represents just under one-third of the UK’s total solar capacity.
In recent years, Chinese SOEs have partnered with local governments to rapidly roll out large-scale solar projects nationwide. In Shandong alone, average annual solar capacity growth exceeded 30% over the past three years, according to analysis from Dialogue Earth. However, intensifying competition and the emergence of negative power prices in several regions have eroded project profitability, making cost recovery increasingly difficult for developers.
In the second half of 2025, six provinces cancelled 143 wind and solar projects with a combined capacity of 10.67 GW, China Energy Network noted. Of these, 67 were solar projects totalling 5.47 GW. In Xinjiang alone, more than 10 solar projects with a combined capacity exceeding 7 GW have been withdrawn, involving major SOEs such as China National Nuclear Corporation, China Energy Engineering Corporation, State Power Investment Corporation, as well as local state-owned firms, the outlet stated.
Read Dialogue Earth’s previous analysis on China’s negative power price.