CHINA SOLAR PV NEWS Update-Week 18/19

Our Weekly China Solar PV News Overview provides select stories on solar developments in the world's largest PV market, which have been published on TaiyangNews - All About Solar over the course of the past 7 days. If you are interested in weekly solar updates on China, please subscribe. For our global daily newsletter, check our website https://taiyangnews.info/

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MARKETS

China’s new energy consumption report for March 2023 released: Releasing the national new energy grid-connected consumption report for March 2023, the China New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center said that in March, the utilization rate of photovoltaic power generation was 98.2%; and from January to March 2023, the utilization rate of photovoltaic power generation was 98%.

BUSINESS

Production / Cells & Modules

2nd phase of Seraphim 2 GW facility put into production: Over WeChat, solar cell and module maker Seraphim said that the second phase of its facility with an annual capacity of 2 GW has produced its first batch of modules. Located in Yingshang County, the facility has four production lines. Now, with the second phase going into production, the annual output value is expected to be RMB 3. 6 billion ($0.52 billion). Recently, Seraphim PV modules were awarded French carbon footprint certification (see China PV News Snippets).

JA Solar’s Hefei facility produces first n-type module: Solar PV panel manufacturer JA Solar said via WeChat that the first production line of its 10 GW facility in Hefei has produced its first n-type module. Spread across 140,000 square meters, this facility adopts a single double-layer steel structure factory building, which is equipped with the AI detection technology and fully automatic intelligent material distribution system (RGV). The whole manufacturing process, the company said is more sensitive, smarter, more efficient and safer. Meanwhile, last month JA Solar had announced that its Dongtai facility has begun construction (see China Solar PV News Snippets)

Production / Cells & Modules / HJT

International energy journal talks about LONGi’s silicon HJT solar cells: Leading solar manufacturer LONGi Green Energy Technology said that it has been featured by international energy journal, Nature Energy. The publication highlighted LONGi’s silicon heterojunction solar cell, which for the first time has achieved a world record for silicon cells with a cell conversion efficiency of 26.81%. This efficiency was possible due to its excellent passivation contact structure. The company went on to add that it has developed a high-quality nanocrystalline silicon hole contact layer, replacing the traditional amorphous silicon hole contact layer. With a view to obtain excellent low contact resistivity, LONGi has used a customized low-resistance and highly transparent conductive oxide layer. All these factors have contributed to achieving high conversion efficiency, the company stated.

Golden Solar raises RMB 2 billion for cell and module facilities: Material science company Golden Solar announced that it is raising about RMB 2 billion ($0.29 billion) funds by way of issuing stocks. The raised funds, after deducting issuance expenses, will be used to produce 4.8 GW of high-efficiency heterojunction (HJT) cells and 1.2 GW of modules in Jiuquan City. With a construction period of 18 months, the facility will have new high-efficiency heterojunction solar cell and module production lines and corresponding auxiliary facilities and equipment.

Production / Monocrystalline Modules

LONGi to invest RMB 1.9 billion in Guangdong: Chinese vertically integrated solar PV company LONGi Solar announced recently that it will be investing RMB 1.9 billion ($0.28 billion) to build a 10 GW monocrystalline module facility in Guangdong Province. The company had signed an agreement with the Government of Heshan City in November 2022 (see China PV News Snippets). Now at their 2022 annual meeting, with a view to promote and implement the facility, the Board of Directors reviewed and approved the investment and construction of the facility. This week LONGi has published their latest wafer prices (see China PV News Snippets).

Production / Silicon Wafers

Qingdian Group signs RMB 10 billion deal with Feidong County: Clean energy company Qingdian Group said via WeChat that it has signed a RMB 10 billion deal with Feidong County. The Group will build a 16 GW monocrystalline silicon wafer production facility and supporting projects. The first phase is expected to begin in May this year and will be put into production by August.

Production / PV New Materials

DAS New Materials to invest RMB 1.6 billion on PV new materials: DAS New Materials, a subsidiary of DAS Solar and a company into research, development and production of photovoltaic new materials, announced over WeChat that it has signed up a RMB 1.6 billion ($0.23 billion) deal with Lianyungang Economic and Technological Development Zone. The funds will be used to build research and development center and production facilities for PV new materials and key components. Spread across 260 mu, the facility will be constructed in two phases and is expected to produce 4 GW of module steel frames, 6 GW of aluminium frames, 5 GW of new photovoltaic brackets, and 3 million square meters of BIPV materials and accessories. On completion, the annual output value of the facility can touch RMB 4.8 billion ($0.69 billion), the company added. At TaiyangNews Solar Module Innovations Conference in January this year, Dr Dengyuan Song, CTO, DAS Solar discussed the development of n-type TOPCon multi-GW level module production of the company with high power and low degradation. Click here to watch the video.

Procurement / PV Modules

China Datang to centralize 2023 PV modules procurement: Independent power generation company China Datang has announced plans to centralize the procurement of photovoltaic modules for the year 2023, according to local media reports. The first lot will consist of p-type monocrystalline PERC photovoltaic modules, with an estimated capacity of 4 GW, while the second lot will consist of n-type photovoltaic modules, with again an estimated capacity 4 GW. The validity period of the centralized procurement will be from the date of signing till 31 December, 2023. The company has launched the bidding process, and anyone who would like to bid can log on to China Datang Group and participate till 15 May 2023. Last year, Datang had shortlisted Huawei, Sungrow, Sineng Electric for the centralized procurement of photovoltaic power generation string inverter (see China PV News Snippets).

Supply / Monocrystalline Modules

Shuangliang Eco-Energy bags RMB 334 million monocrystalline modules order: Chinese production equipment maker, Shuangliang Eco-Energy, said in an announcement, that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shuangliang New Energy Technology (Baotou) Co., Ltd., has got into a sales deal with Liaoning Hongyuan Electric Power Installation and Maintenance Co., Ltd. With this, the company will be supplying its Gigalumi SL*M10S-550W monocrystalline modules to the tune of RMB 334 million ($48.2 million) (tentative price, subject to actual settlement). The contract states that all the goods will be delivered by December 2023, and the warranty period of the photovoltaic modules will be 12 years. Recently in March, Shuangliang had got into an agreement to supply wafers to EGing (see China PV News Snippets)

Prices / Silicon Wafers

TCL Zhonghuan lowers silicon wafer prices: Announcing the latest prices of silicon wafers, leading solar wafer supplier, TCL Zhonghuan New Energy Technology, said that there has been an overall drop in the prices. Here are the details:

• The prices of p-type 150μm silicon wafers 182, 210, and 218.2 have been pegged at RMB 5.84 ($0.748) /pc, RMB 7.60 ($0.973) /pc, and RMB 8.21 ($1.051) /pc, respectively. Compared to the previous release, there has been a drop of 8.75% (9.22%), 5.59% (6.08%) and 5.52% (5.99%), respectively.
• n-type 130μm silicon wafers 182 and 210 have been pegged at RMB 5.95 ($0.761) /pc and RMB 7.74 ($0.991) /pc, respectively. Compared to the previous release, there has been a drop of 8.74% (9.19%) and 5.61% (6.07%), respectively.
• n-type 110μm silicon wafers 182 and 210 have been pegged at RMB 5.71 ($0.731) /pc and RMB 7.43 ($0.951) /pc, respectively. Compared to the previous release, there has been a drop of 8.79% (9.19%) and 5.59% (6.12%), respectively.

LONGi announces new monocrystalline silicon wafer prices: World leading solar manufacturer LONGi Green Energy Technology has announced the latest price of monocrystalline silicon wafers. Here are the details:

• The price of p-type M10 (182mm) 150μm thickness was lowered from RMB 6.5 ($0.94) to RMB 6.3 ($0.91), a drop of 3.08%
• The price of p-type M6 (166mm) 150μm thickness was lowered from RMB 5.61 (0.81) to RMB 5.44 (0.79), a drop of 3.03%.

In its recent financial results update, LONGi Green Energy reported that it produced 85.06 GW monocrystalline silicon wafers and 46.76 GW monocrystalline modules in 2022, and plans to ship 130 GW wafers and 85 GW of cell and modules in 2023 (see LONGi 2022 Higher Operating Income Up By 60 Percent).

Financial Results

Chint registers 59% rise in profit in Q3 2023: Declaring its financial results, Chint, the parent company of PV module manufacturer Astronergy, said that:

• In 2022, the company has achieved a revenue of RMB 45.9 billion ($6.64 billion), a year-on-year rise of 18%, and a recurring net profit of RMB 3.3 billion ($0.48 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 2%.
• In the first quarter of 2023, the company achieved a revenue of RMB 15.7 billion ($2.27 billion), a year-on-year increase of 47%, and recurring net profit of RMB 1.09 billion ($0.16 billion), a year-on-year increase of 59%.

In the recently concluded TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Distributed Solar & Storage, Astronergy’s Xuanyi Shi pointed towards the advantage of the company’s TOPCon products in distributed PV applications especially Astro N (see Xuanyi Shi, Astronergy: Advantages of Astronergy’s TOPCon Products in Distributed PV Application).

TAIYANGNEWS VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

TaiyangNews Distributed Solar & Storage Conference presentations online: TaiyangNews had recently held a Virtual Conference on Distributed Solar and Storage, where leading stakeholders in this segment – including module, inverter, battery storage and full solution suppliers – provided updates on the latest product developments for increasing energy independence of residential and commercial buildings. The presentations of all the speakers are now online. Click here to watch them.