CHINA SOLAR PV NEWS UPDATE: WEEK 17

Here is our Weekly China Solar PV News Overview, which provides select stories on solar developments in the world's largest PV market that have been published on?TaiyangNews - All About Solar. If you are interested in weekly solar updates on China, please subscribe. For our global daily newsletter, check our website https://taiyangnews.info/

MARKETS

China installed 45.7 GW new solar PV capacity in Q1/2024: China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the country’s new solar PV installed capacity during the initial 3 months of 2024 rose by around 36% annually. The 45.74 GW new additions during the quarter saw an improvement of 12.08 GW over the previous year.??Nevertheless, the growth of new additions during the reporting quarter pale in comparison with the 155% annual increase in Q1/2023 when China reported 33.66 GW new installations (see 155% YoY Increase In China’s Q1 Solar Installations ).?This takes China’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity at the end of March 2024 to around 660 GW, representing an annual increase of 55%. Wind power capacity increased to 460 GW with new additions of 15.5 GW in Q1/2024.?For the complete story, click here .

BUSINESS

Production / Cells & Modules

DAS Solar to set up n-type high-efficiency PV cell fab in Weining County: Solar cell and module manufacturer DAS SOLAR has signed an agreement with the Weining Autonomous County to build a photovoltaic (PV) cell production fab. It will be located in Weining County, Guizhou Province, for a contract amount of RMB 2 billion ($276.3 million). RMB 800 million ($110.5 million) of the total will be allocated to the land, utilities and buildings. Another RMB 800 million ($110.5 million) will be allocated for the production line, with the remaining RMB 400 million ($55.3 million) amount serving as initial working capital. The facility will be spread over an area of 260 acres, with an annual production capacity of 5 GW. Once complete, it is expected to generate RMB 2.5 billion ($345.4 million) in annual revenues, while creating 1,200 jobs. Earlier this month, DAS Solar announced the launch of the Photovoltaic Laboratory Intelligent Management System (PV-LIMS) in cooperation with China Inspection Group (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Tongwei Solar rolls out 1st G12N module from Hefei base: Integrated solar manufacturer Tongwei Solar has announced that its Hefei Production Base has rolled out the 1st G12N large-size high-efficiency module. The company is said to have modified 6 production lines to manufacture G12N modules. The newly launched G12N-66 dual-glass module features a maximum power output of 715 W, a 130 W increase vis-à-vis traditional 182-72 model n-type products. The company says that the module uses its proprietary TNC high-efficiency cell, featuring a low-voltage design, low degradation, and high power output. Earlier this month, Tongwei’s Nantong Base rolled out the 1st 210R large rectangular module (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Sunrev starts construction on new PV cell & module factories: Sunrev has announced that it has broken ground on its new 10 GW high-efficiency PV cell manufacturing facility in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The company plans to invest RMB 5 billion ($690.8 million) in this facility focused on research and development, production and sales of high-efficiency TOPCon photovoltaic cells. In parallel, the company also announced that it has started construction on a 10 GW solar module manufacturing facility in Yangzhou High-tech Zone in Hanjiang District. This facility is focused on research and development, production and sales of n-type 210-TOPCon module products, being built in 2 phases for an investment RMB 10 billion ($1.381 billion).

Supply / Cells & Modules

Jolywood’s FY2023 module shipments total 3 GW: Jolywood Solar has released its financial results for FY2023, reporting revenues of RMB 12.26 billion ($1.7 billion), up 28.01% year-over-year (YoY). Its net profit increased 31.18% YoY to RMB 526.55 million ($73.13 million). For the year, the company’s total cell shipments of 3.52 GW included 800.12 MW of TOPCon cells. It shipped 3 GW of modules during the period, including 2.65 GW of TOPCon modules. In addition, its solar backsheet sales totaled 256.38 million sq.m. for the year. The company said that its TOPCon manufacturing capacity as of the end of the year was 6.48 GW for cells and 3.70 GW for modules.

China Datang announces results for 2024-2025 PV module auction: Independent power generation company China Datang has announced the results of its 2024-2025 PV module centralized procurement bid. 60 companies are said to have participated in the quotation. N-type accounts for around 88% of the 16 GW bid, which was divided into 3 sections. The first section, for 13 GW, is for n-type TOPCon PV modules. Section 2 deals with p-type PERC modules for a capacity of 2 GW. Under Section 3, the company aims to procure 1 GW of n-type heterojunction (HJT) modules. 49 companies participated under Section 1, with bid prices ranging from RMB 0.79 /W to RMB 0.93 /W, averaging RMB 0.8517 /W. Section 2 saw participation from 33 companies, with bids ranging from RMB 0.74 /W to RMB 0.889 /W, for an average price of RMB 0.8157 /W. Under Section 3, 13 companies participated with prices ranging from RMB 0.89 /W to RMB 1.08 /W, averaging RMB 0.9509 /W.

Supply / ESS

Trina Storage signs 20 MWh ESS order: The energy storage arm of Trina Solar, Trina Storage , has signed an agreement to supply its Elementa 2 energy storage system (ESS) to the Mashan Dalonggou 100 MW agri-PV power station project. The project is located in Wangmo County, Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and houses a 10 MW/20 MWh ESS on-site, solely supplied by Trina Storage. The company says that its Elementa 2 ESS requires lower investment costs and provides higher energy storage throughput and safety. Recently, Xinhua Hydropower announced Trina Storage as one of the winning bidders of its ESS procurement auction (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Supply / Equipment

SC-SOLAR delivers turnkey perovskite tandem line equipment: Solar production equipment maker SC SOLAR has announced that it has delivered a turnkey perovskite single-junction and tandem solar cell line equipment to an unnamed client. SC-SOLAR’s production equipment covers perovskite solution preparation, glass cleaning equipment, magnetron sputtering equipment, coating drying crystallization equipment, laser equipment, lamination equipment and auxiliary equipment, etc. SC-SOLAR aims to help its customers quickly establish a research and development foundation for perovskite single-junction and laminated module processes.

EPC

Jolywood wins 2 GW residential EPC project bid: Jolywood Solar has announced that a consortium consisting of its subsidiaries has tentatively won the bid for the Zhejiang Province Energy Group’s (ZPEG) residential solar PV EPC project, with an expected bid amount of RMB 2.756 billion ($382.78 million). This tender is part of the second batch of ZPEG’s residential photovoltaic project general contracting (EPC) framework agreement purchasing, valid until December 31, 2025, with an estimated construction capacity of 800 MWp to 2 GWp. The winning bidder is responsible for all related tasks from early development to commissioning and completion acceptance of the project.

Power Plant

Panjiang Group plans 1.55 GW solar power plant: Panjiang Group, a coal production company, has announced its plan to invest RMB 5.22 billion ($724.44 million) in constructing 5 solar PV plants in Guizhou Province, with a total installed capacity of 1.55 GW DC. 3 of these projects, Part of the GW-scale PV base projects located in Anshun City, have a combined DC capacity of 1.18 GW. The remaining 2 agricultural PV projects, located in Anshun City and Panzhou City, have a combined capacity of about 368 MW. All 5 projects are required to equip energy storage facilities accounting for 10% of the total installed capacity with a 2-hour charging and discharging configuration.

SPS starts construction on industrial park: Shanghai Precision Systems has started construction on the Yangzhou SPS Perovskite Industrial Park and SPS Perovskite Research Institute’s 100 MW pilot platform. The 1st phase will see the construction of a new base in Yangzhou Economic Development Zone for an investment of RMB 500 million ($69.1 million). SPS recently completed Series A financing for an undisclosed amount (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Company Performance

JinkoSolar’s FY2023 net profit up 153%: Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. has reported that its FY2023 revenues increased 43.55% YoY to RMB 118.682 billion ($16.397 billion). For the year, its net profit increased 153% YoY to RMB 7.44 billion ($1.03 billion). The company’s PV module shipments for the year totaled 78.52 GW, which is ranked as the topmost for the industry by InfoLink Consulting. N-type modules accounted for 62% of total module shipments, up 352% to 48.41 GW. Operationally, the company had 85 GW, 90 GW and 110 GW of manufacturing capacity for silicon wafers, cells and modules, respectively, as of the end of 2023. It had 70 GW of high-efficiency n-type cell manufacturing capacity.

Hopewind FY2023 net profits up over 88% YoY: Solar inverter manufacturer Hopewind has released its annual report for 2023. During the year, the company’s total revenue increased 33.56% Year-over-Year (YoY) to RMB 3.752 billion ($520.83 million). Its net profit rose 88.18% YoY to RMB 502 million ($69.72 million). The company sold 124,658 photovoltaic (PV) inverters in 2023, a decrease of 7.5% YoY. Regionally, China accounted for 94% of its inverter sales revenue and international markets accounted for the remaining 6%. Additionally, Hopewind sold 4,070 wind turbine converters during the year, increasing 18.35% YoY. In March, Hopewind signed 2 separate deals with CNBM Germany GmbH and Bisoll GmbH (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Sungrow’s FY2023 inverter shipments up 69%: Solar inverter manufacturer Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd. has reported that its FY2023 inverter shipments increased 69% year-over-year (YoY), reaching 130 GW worldwide. For the period, the company reported revenues of RMB 72.251 billion ($10.03 billion), up 79.47% YoY. Its net profit increased 162.69% YoY to RMB 9.44 billion ($1.31 billion). Sungrow also sold 10.5 GWh of energy storage systems (ESS) during the period. The company says that it had developed and built over 40 GW of solar and wind power projects globally by the end of 2023. As of the end of the year, it had operations and maintenance contracts totaling 31 GW.

Autowell’s Q1 2024 revenues up over 89% YoY: Automation equipment manufacturer Autowell Technology has released its financial results for Q1 2024. The company’s revenues grew 89.06% YoY to RMB 1.964 billion ($271.3 million). Its net profit of RMB 333 million ($46 million) for the period was up 50.44% YoY. At the end of the quarter, the company had RMB 14.351 billion ($1.98 billion) of orders on hand, a growth of 64.11% YoY. Its new orders for the period totaled RMB 3.445 billion ($476 million), up 31.5% YoY. Last month, Autowell reported that its FY2023 revenue increased 78.05% YoY (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

S.C New Energy’s FY2023 revenues up over 45% YoY: Solar production equipment manufacturer S.C New Energy has reported that its FY2023 revenues grew 45.3% Year-over-Year (YoY) to RMB 8.73 billion ($1.21 billion). Process equipment revenue totaled RMB 7.06 billion ($981 million), accounting for 82% of total revenues. The company’s net profit for the period was RMB 1.63 billion ($227 million), up 56.04% YoY. Revenues from China accounted for about 88% of the company’s revenues, totaling RMB 7.68 billion ($1.07 billion) for the year. The remaining 12% was contributed by international markets. A few days ago, S.C New Energy also announced that it has signed contracts worth RMB 3.07 billion ($424 million) with a leading PV enterprise over the past 12 months (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

DMEGC Solar’s Q1 2024 revenue down 8.6%: Vertically integrated solar manufacturer DMEGC Solar has reported Q1 2024 revenues of 4.23 billion ($587.71 million), which is a YoY decline of 8.6%. The company reported net profit of RMB 353.24 billion ($49.06 million), down 39.4% YoY. DMEGC Solar attributed the decline in net profit mainly to intensified competition in the PV industry, combined with a significant YoY decrease in sales prices, leading to reduced profitability.

Efficiency

MedicalSystem claims 26.49% TOPCon cell efficiency: Xinhao New Energy, a subsidiary of MedicalSystem Company, has received National Photovoltaic Industry Measurement and Testing Center (NPVM) certification for its latest n-type TOPCon high-efficiency cell. The cell efficiency is said to reach a high of 26.49% in mass production, with a maximum open circuit voltage of 739.5 mV.

Awards & Certifications

Canadian Solar’s SolBank 3.0 receives UL 9540A certification: Canadian Solar has announced that its proprietary ESS SolBank 3.0 has received UL 9540A confirmation letter from TüV Rheinland. The company says that SolBank 3.0 is an innovative integrated 20-foot standard energy storage container with a capacity of 2.5 MW / 5 MWh. It uses high-performance lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells and highly integrated battery packs, incorporating Cell to Pack technology, Pack-level fuses, and multiple safety measures to ensure safety.

LONGi receives EUPD award in Latin America: LONGi Solar has announced that it has been named among the Top Brand PV Modules LATAM award from EUPD. LONGi ?has received this award for 3 consecutive years since 2022, for its highly efficient and reliable products and services. It has also been named the Top Brand PV for Chile, Mexico and the Latin American region over the past 2 years. Earlier this month, LONGi launched the 1 GW pilot line of its Ordos City module manufacturing plant (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Partnerships

Sunmun Technology & Huasun sign strategic cooperation agreement: Sunmun Technology has announced that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huasun Energy. The 2 companies aim to focus on PV and energy storage. The strategic partnership will see the companies cooperate on the chemicals and processes required for silicon wafer processing, PV cell production, and energy storage material production. Huasun Energy recently launched its 0BB (0 busbar) high-power HJT module (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

CONFERENCES & EXHIBITIONS

#Block #May7-8 for TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Cell & Module Production Equipment & Processing Materials

At a time when PV manufacturers are suffering from overcapacities and low prices, there is still interest in new production capacities for various reasons. The major Chinese companies continue parts of planned expansions (though often at a slower pace), diversify into new markets, while new companies attempt to get into the game as several countries and regions are striving to decrease supply-chain dependence by supporting their own PV manufacturing sector, including processing materials. On top come upgrades to quickly advance PV technologies to cut costs and improve competitiveness.

At the combined 2-day Conference, which will take place on May 7-8, 2024, from 09:30 – 13:30 CEST, the Speakers will discuss updates related to module-level advancements alongside the established focus on cell-level innovations. For #Agenda & #FreeRegistration, click here: https://taiyangnews.info/may-7-8-2024-cell-production-equipment-module-production-equipment-processing-materials/

LONGi Solar

#SolarCellProduction #SolarModuleProduction #CellProductionEquipment #ModuleProductionEquipment #SolarPV #SolarEnergy #Solar

Huasun discusses HJT at exclusive gala in Abu Dhabi: Heterojunction (HJT) module manufacturer HUASUN HJT held the Huasun HJT Exclusive Gala in Abu Dhabi where it showcased its solar technology. Attended by partners and energy industry players, discussions centered on technical advancements, project applications, and market potential. Huasun highlighted its 0BB high-power module and its suitability for the Middle East market. Experts emphasized the synergy between Huasun’s modules and solar trackers, anticipating their impact on regional energy transformation. Huasun reiterated its commitment to innovation and expanding its presence in the Middle East and South Asia. Huasun recently unveiled its 0BB high-power HJT module, calling it the industry’s first HJT rectangular 0BB product (see China Solar PV News Snippets ).

Trina Solar at South Korea’s Green Energy Expo 2024: Solar module manufacturer 天合光能 has announced that it will be showcasing its innovations at the Green Energy Expo 2024 in Daegu, South Korea from April 24 to 26, 2024. The company says South Korea’s ambitious renewable energy targets make it an important market for Trina Solar. It aims to meet the evolving needs of this market with a focus on technology. Trina Solar’s exhibition will feature state-of-the-art solar panels, trackers, and storage solutions, including its Vertex N modules and Elementa 2 energy storage system. The company sees potential for utility-scale solar projects on land unsuitable for agriculture and for floating solar farms on seas, lakes, and reservoirs. At the exhibition, Trina Solar can visited at Booth E300.