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Owing to China's escalating demand for renewable energy and carbon emissions reduction, and given its prominent position as one of the fastest-growing nations in photovoltaic (PV) development, a comprehensive assessment of the potential of both centralized and distributed photovoltaic systems in China is crucial. However, current research on PV potential assessment presents several challenges. Therefore, this study presents a five-dimensional assessment model, encompassing geographical, technical, economic, CO 2 mitigation, and realizable potential, to systematically map China's centralized photovoltaic (CPV) and distributed photovoltaic (DPV) potential. The findings underscore the vast PV potential across the country, with areas of 3.11 million km2 and 252.72 thousand km2 deemed suitable for CPV and DPV development, respectively. This corresponds to a technical potential of 416,383.27 and 28,261.53 TWh/yr for CPV and DPV, respectively. Furthermore, this study explored the economic potential of CPV and DPV, revealing that the generation costs of both CPV and DPV in China are in proximity to the feed-in tariffs. With technological advancements and economies of scale, a broader PV potential is projected to be economically feasible by 2030. Full implementation of the current economic potential can yield an annual CO 2 mitigation of 54.20 and 8.39 gigatonnes (Gt) using CPV and DPV, respectively. Notably, China's PV potential exhibits distinct regional heterogeneity, with CPV potential concentrated primarily in the western region and DPV potential distributed predominantly across the eastern provinces. This study identified the most resource-intensive areas in the western region of Inner Mongolia for CPV and in the coastal regions of Guangdong and Shandong provinces for DPV. Considering policy imperatives and the development status, China's PV sector holds tremendous potential to significantly contribute to carbon reduction targets. Based on the findings, policy recommendations are proposed, emphasizing the imperative of jointly developing CPV and DPV systems, as well as implementing phased and planned growth strategies for PV growth. • A five-dimensional assessment estimated China's PV feasibility and CO 2 mitigation. • China has 416,383.27 TWh/yr CPV potential and 28,261.53 TWh/yr DPV potential. • China's CPV and DPV are at a critical point: the LCOE is close to the feed-in tariff. • Photovoltaic development can contribute to China's carbon reduction goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power sector significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions, making its transition to low-carbon energy crucial for achieving carbon neutrality. Zhengzhou, recognized as one of the China's "National Central Cities", has a high energy demand. Its power sector, which is primarily reliant on coal, is responsible for half of the city's CO 2 emissions. The low emissions analysis platform (LEAP) model serves as an effective tool for exploring the power sector's transition to low-carbon sources. However, studies on the combined reduction in air pollutants and CO 2 at the city level are scarce. This study focuses on Zhengzhou's power sector, examining the power composition, coal usage, CO 2 and air pollutant emissions, social costs, and employment effects across five scenarios using LEAP. The five scenarios are the business-as-usual scenario, the reference scenario, the carbon neutrality scenario, and two optimization scenarios with different carbon peak and carbon neutrality time. CO 2 emissions will peak in 2030 at 34.6 Mt in the reference scenario, and in 2022 at 32.4 Mt in the carbon neutrality scenario. Emissions in the reference and carbon neutrality scenarios will decrease by 64.8% and 75.2%, respectively, from those in the business-as-usual scenario due to emission reduction strategies. In the carbon neutrality scenario, coal power reformation is the most significant measure, accounting for 45.7% of the total CO 2 reduction compared to that in the business-as-usual scenario, followed by the integration of external electricity (17.8%) and solar energy (13.6%). This scenario also demonstrated a strong synergistic effect on reducing air pollutants and CO 2 emissions. Although the carbon neutrality scenario incurs costs 60.4 billion yuan higher than those of the reference scenario, its CO 2 mitigation cost is 66.1 yuan/t lower. This indicated that more rapid CO 2 reduction, despite higher economic inputs, is justified by ambitious CO 2 reduction goals and environmental benefits. Enhancing the use of renewable energy technologies for research and development to lower costs could increase the economic feasibility of the carbon neutrality scenario. In the two optimization scenarios, complete elimination of CO 2 and air pollutant emissions is achieved by 2060, with all the electricity generated from renewable sources, although issues of uncertainty and stability need to be addressed. The study also highlights that renewable energy development will significantly boost employment, with an estimated 1.19 million jobs in 2060 in the carbon neutrality scenario. Finally, the paper concludes with a sensitivity analysis and offers policy recommendations for the power sector's low-carbon transition. [Display omitted] • Low-carbon transition paths of Zhengzhou power sector are investigated by scenario analysis. • Coal power reformation and external electricity are effective measures for CO 2 reduction. • Synergistic reduction of air pollutants and CO 2 is achieved in the CAN scenario. • The CAN scenario has a good cost-effectiveness of CO 2 mitigation. • Policy recommendations for Zhengzhou power sector are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]