1 This is the accepted version of a forthcoming article that will be published by Sage in Journal of Environment and Development: http://journals.sagepub.com/loi/jeda Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online under licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International from: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/24930/ The prospects, politics and practices of solar energy innovation in China Frauke Urban, SOAS University of London Yu Wang, Tsinghua University Sam Geall, University of Sussex Abstract: This paper examines the prospects of, and politics and practices around, solar energy in China. It examines two different solar energy technologies, namely solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWH), in order to understand how different pathways for low carbon innovation are supported and constrained by (the lack of) political support at the national and local level, the interactions between state and non-state actors, as well as how they relate to changing practices among consumers. The paper also discusses obstacles and trade-offs. We find two very different approaches to solar energy. The solar PV industry in China is experiencing increased domestic growth, after many years of being mainly export-oriented. Prices declined rapidly in recent years, and solar PV also enjoys much political and financial support from the central government and local governments. However there are high bureaucratic and technical hurdles to get grid connected and access the feed- in-tariff, particularly for individual users. Solar water heaters on the other side are a ‘home grown’ Chinese technology that is ubiquitous in China, particularly in rural areas, easy to install and use, and that has developed from the grass-roots levels to mass products with relatively little government support. Although being largely neglected by high-level discussions and plans, SWH could contribute much to low carbon transitions that are driven at the local level in China. 1. Introduction China is often considered a leader in the green economy. No other country invests more in renewable energy than China, including in solar energy. Solar energy is important as an alternative source of energy as about 80% of the global primary energy supply comes from fossil fuels, primarily oil and coal (IEA, 2017). Energy use, energy production and CO2 emissions have increased rapidly in China since the beginning of its economic reforms around three decades ago. Furthermore, while China had low per capita energy use and emissions for a long time the country has been catching up in recent years. China’s per capita CO2 emissions are today comparable with those of the European Union (World Bank, 2017; IEA, 2017). China is also the world’s largest energy user and absolute CO2 emitter (IEA, 2017) and it may lead on cumulative emissions within 10 to 20 years (Stavins, 2014). At the same time, China has also become a world leader in renewable energy, most notably in wind energy, solar energy -both solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWH)- and hydropower. China tops the renewable energy field globally in terms of investments,