China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has introduced new guidelines for solar manufacturing investments, including increasing the minimum capital ratio from 20% to 30% – the standard previously applied to polysilicon factories – and other non-binding guidelines. As with the government’s intervention against excessive polysilicon manufacturing last year, even non-binding guidelines may well have an effect – but this is another case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. It will signify a stabilization of production capacity and reinforces the fact that prices cannot fall even further – but it’s really a counterbalancing conclusion to the overcapacity strategy, rather than a new policy in its own right. The Chinese government’s previous non-binding, verbal (but not completely…