The study is conducted to compare economy of centralized photovoltaic power in western China and distributed photovoltaic power in eastern China. The generation cost compositions are first analyzed. Then the cost per kWh models of photovoltaic power, including generation cost model and comprehensive cost model, are established based on levelized cost of energy(LCOE). The generation cost model contains construction cost, maintenance and operation cost, financial cost, depreciable cost and tax cost. The comprehensive cost model is obtained by considering additional simplified transmission cost. Quantitative analysis on economy of these two kinds of photovoltaic power is compared. Based on the proposed models and parameters, the generation cost of centralized photovoltaic power in western China is lower than that of distributed photovoltaic power in eastern China regardless of transmission cost. The comprehensive cost of centralized photovoltaic power in western China is close to that of distributed photovoltaic power in eastern China considering transmission cost.