Abstract:The current status and corresponding policies of residential photovoltaic(PV) system in China and Japan are reviewed. By taking the power generation price and dynamic payback period as the assessment index,Shanghai and Kitakyushu with similar climate conditions are selected to analyze the economic performance of the residential PV systems.According to the analysis results,the economic performance of the residential PV system in Shanghai is relatively better than that in Japan.Therefore,it is believed that there is great potential of residential PV system adoption in Shanghai.In addition,to promote the adoption of residential PV system,compared with the subsidies to initial cost,the rise of buyback price is considered to have better performance.