China Issues GB 55015-2021, National Standard for Building Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Utilization

On October 13, 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China officially released an announcement approving the "General Specification for Building Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Utilization" (GB 55015-2021) as a national standard, and clearly stated that this specification would be fully enforced as of April 1, 2022.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development emphasized in the announcement that the newly issued "Code" is a mandatory engineering construction standard, and all of its provisions must be strictly observed. Any mandatory provisions in the existing relevant engineering construction standards that are inconsistent with it shall be repealed simultaneously. If conflicts arise between the relevant provisions of current engineering construction standards and this "Code", the provisions of this "Code" shall take precedence.

The "Standards" explicitly require:

• New buildings should be equipped with solar energy systems.
• The designed service life of solar collectors shall be more than 15 years.
• The designed service life of photovoltaic modules shall be higher than 25 years.

The introduction of this new national standard provides clear guidance and mandatory requirements for the application of photovoltaic integration in new buildings. In practice, some pioneering projects have demonstrated their alignment with and forward-looking response to the spirit of the new regulations. A representative example is the 300MWp county-wide promotion rooftop distributed photovoltaic power station project (constructed in 2021–2022) undertaken by the Solar First Group in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

This project was strictly designed, material-selected, and constructed according to high standards. The rooftop photovoltaic mounting system and the overall engineering installation standards it adopted fully comply with—and in some aspects even exceed—the requirements for safety, reliability, and service life (such as component lifespan exceeding 25 years) set forth in the upcoming new national standard GB 55015-2021.

This large-scale project, covering residential homes, industrial and commercial factories, and government public buildings, has been successfully connected to the grid and put into operation. It not only responds in advance to the new regulation's mandate for installing solar systems in new buildings but also provides valuable engineering practice experience and replicable technical solutions for the subsequent nationwide implementation of the new national standards, particularly for promoting the development of county-wide rooftop distributed photovoltaic systems.

The core content of the announcement is reaffirmed as follows:

The "General Specification for Building Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Utilization" (GB 55015-2021) has been approved as a national standard and will take effect on April 1, 2022. This specification is a mandatory engineering construction standard, and all its provisions must be strictly implemented. The relevant mandatory provisions of current engineering construction standards are hereby abolished. Where current standard provisions are inconsistent with this specification, this specification shall govern.