Sichuan Enterprise Research ③: How does the photovoltaic industry leader lead the world?

, in a dust-free workshop with 11 football fields, full-automatic intelligent manufacturing production lines operate efficiently. Hundreds of intelligent cars shuttle back and forth to transport materials. After 10 processes such as velvet making, diffusion and SE laser doping, monocrystalline silicon wafers are turned into high-efficiency crystalline silicon batteries.

this is Tongwei Solar Jintang Base, and it is also the battery production base with the largest production capacity and the most advanced technology in the country and the world. Driven by strong downstream demand, enterprises are now operating at full capacity. "The base has 32 production lines, producing more than 500 million solar cells every day." Introduction by Pang Sanfeng, assistant general manager of Tongwei Solar (Jintang) Co., Ltd.

Tongwei Solar Jintang Base Real Picture

figures is a strong industry momentum. Driven by the global consensus on green and low-carbon transformation, the prosperity of the photovoltaic industry continues to improve. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2022, the total output value of my country's photovoltaic industry exceeded 1.4 trillion yuan; the national output of silicon materials, silicon wafers, batteries, and modules increased by more than 55% year-on-year.

As a leading enterprise in the industry, Tongwei solar cells have ranked first in global shipments for five consecutive years. According to Tongwei's 2022 earnings forecast, the company's net profit for the year is expected to be 25.2 billion yuan to 27.2 billion yuan, up 207-231 percent year-on-year.

the current, the photovoltaic industry continues to heat up, the industry's leading enterprises how to continue the advantage, leading the world? Recently, the reporter walked into the Tongwei solar Jintang base, with Tongwei as a sample, to observe China's photovoltaic industry counterattack road.

01

research

go from "follow" to "lead"?

Technology as the king, to achieve cost reduction and efficiency and scale advantages

walked into Tongwei Solar Jintang Base, as if walking into a science fiction factory: in the production workshop, intelligent manufacturing equipment is neatly arranged, mechanical arms are waved and grasped in an orderly manner, and all production processes are manufactured, transmitted and detected by machines.

Tongwei Solar Jintang Base Solar Cell Production Line

intelligent production is how to achieve?

it turns out that Tongwei will join forces with China Telecom and Huawei in 2021 to build the world's leading 5g industrial application park at Jintang Base. "Compared with the traditional battery production line, Jintang Base reduces labor by about 62%, energy consumption by about 30%, and production efficiency by about 161." Pang Sanfeng said that thanks to the digital transformation, Tongwei Solar's profitability and market competitiveness have been greatly improved.

photovoltaic industry is mainly divided into five links: silicon material, silicon wafer, battery chip, module and system. Tongwei entered the photovoltaic industry in 2006 and is now a "double leader" enterprise of photovoltaic silicon materials and cells, and has formed five major solar cell production bases in Hefei, Shuangliu, Jintang, Meishan and Pengshan. By the end of 2022, Tongwei battery chip production capacity has exceeded 70GW, for five consecutive years to become the world's largest capacity and shipments, the most profitable solar cell enterprises. According to the company's plan, Tongwei Solar will form 130GW-150GW capacity from 2024 to 2026.

bright data, it has actually experienced a long period of industry hibernation. Time to pull back to 2012, at that time, China's photovoltaic industry entered a cold winter, and faced the market, equipment, raw materials "three outside" dilemma.

how to crack the industry bottleneck?

relies on policy to provide timely assistance. In July 2013, the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Photovoltaic Industry" was issued, and various localities have successively introduced policies to support and regulate the development of the photovoltaic industry, which is beneficial to the development of the industry.

on the other hand can not be separated from technological innovation. "Over the past ten years or so, we have persevered, relying on technological innovation." Liu Hanyuan, deputy to the National People's Congress, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and chairman of the board of directors of Tongwei Group, said that taking Tongwei's Yongxiang shares as an example, during the difficult development of the domestic photovoltaic industry from 2010 to 2015, Yongxiang shares passed four technological changes. The production cost of silicon materials has been greatly reduced. The success of Yongxiang's technological transformation has not only made it one of the first echelon of global polysilicon companies, but also led the recovery of polysilicon companies in Leshan.

with the favorable policy environment, the development of the industry continues to speed up, China's existing photovoltaic-related enterprises have more than 500000. In the fierce competition, enterprises rely on what to seize the market?

, in the face of the reporter's question, Pang Sanfeng took out a battery chip with confidence to show the reporter, "This is a multinational battery independently developed by Tongwei. It is in the leading position in the industry in terms of battery efficiency, output power, system cost, etc." Pang Sanfeng explained that photovoltaic cell chip is the core link to realize photoelectric conversion, and its technical route and process level directly affect the power generation efficiency and service life of photovoltaic modules.

At present, the efficiency of P-type PERC photovoltaic cells commonly used in the market is gradually approaching the theoretical limit, with the highest efficiency reaching 24.06 percent. In recent years, Tongwei has taken the lead in looking for a new battery technology route and made a breakthrough. The N-type component adopts Tongwei TNC technology, which can bring 15-20W power increase and 3%-4% gain per watt on average compared with PERC components under the same size and specification.

November 2022, Tongwei TNC high-efficiency battery technology was awarded the top ten "zero-carbon China" innovative technologies in 2022 by the China Expo Organizing Committee. According to industry analysts, with the large-scale production and manufacturing cost reduction of Tongwei TNC high-efficiency batteries, TNC high-efficiency batteries are expected to replace PERC as the main technical route in the future, pushing the global photovoltaic industry forward.

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Research Second Question

respond to the downward pressure on silicon through the industry cycle?

the integrated layout

global energy transformation, thanks to the rising demand in the international market and the improvement of the competitiveness of China's photovoltaic industry, China's photovoltaic exports have performed well. According to data provided by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, the total export of photovoltaic products (silicon wafers, cells, modules) nationwide in 2022 was about US $51.25 billion, an increase of 80.3 percent over the same period last year, a new high.

"After more than ten years of development, China's photovoltaic industry is in a leading position in the world in terms of scale, cost and market." Liu Hanyuan introduced that in 2022, China's high-purity crystalline silicon will account for 90% of the world, silicon rods and wafers will account for 97%, and components will account for 75% to 80%.

in the silicon sector, Tongwei's Yongxiang shares currently have an annual production capacity of 230000 tons, the world's largest production capacity, and the global market share in the past six months has exceeded 25%. If the high-purity crystalline silicon manufactured by Yongxiang is used to produce integrated circuits, One month's output can meet the world's demand for one year.

, however, there are challenges and opportunities. After a sharp rise in the price of upstream silicon in the previous two years, the price of silicon has continued to decline since the beginning of this year, and the price of single crystal dense materials has dropped from a high of 300000 yuan/ton to 206700 yuan/ton at the end of March. Industry judgment, as more new capacity continues to be released in the second quarter, the inflection point of the silicon price cycle has arrived, silicon prices may enter a long-term slow downward trend.

respond to the downward pressure on silicon through the industry cycle?

the second half of 2022, Tongwei will fully force the component link, will open up the whole industrial chain, through the integrated layout to participate in the industry fierce competition.

"for many years, we have adhered to the development model of specialized division of labor, misplaced competition with industry partners, and differentiated development," said Liu Hanyuan, but now all aspects of the market believe that "professional integration" is more conducive to competition. "If we take the lead in pulling through the entire industrial chain, we may have a restructuring advantage, so that the components have a late-comer advantage in the final competition, so that our battery component shipments will also increase to a certain extent".

currently, Tongwei is rapidly expanding its downstream production capacity. On January 1 this year, the 25GW photovoltaic module project of Tongwei Solar (Yancheng) Co., Ltd. officially started. As the first photovoltaic project invested and constructed by Tongwei in Jiangsu, it is planned to be put into production in the first half of this year.

Tongwei Solar Jintang Base Solar Cell Production Line

"the fourth phase of the 3. of Jintang base is also planning and constructing photovoltaic module projects, which are expected to be put into production within this year". Pang Sanfeng introduced, at present, Tongwei high-efficiency components existing annual production capacity of 14GW, according to the plan, with Tongwei Yancheng, Nantong and other component bases put into production, is expected to reach 80GW by the end of 2023.

's large-scale entry into the photovoltaic module market, Tongwei has frequently harvested orders, won a series of large orders such as China Resources, Datang and State Power Investment, and reached cooperation with a number of global renewable energy product distributors.

is not just Tongwei, this year, Jingao Technology, Longji Green Energy and other leading enterprises have increased the integrated layout to enhance competitiveness. According to the analysis of industry insiders, through the vertical integration layout, it can not only reduce costs and increase efficiency, but also accelerate the integration and development of technology and enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises.

, however, the industry will enter a price-for-volume state as new entrants seize the market. How to avoid industrial convergence and achieve win-win development?

China Photovoltaic Industry Association, suggested that enterprises can dig deep into various "photovoltaic + buildings", "photovoltaic + transportation", "photovoltaic + energy storage", "photovoltaic + hydrogen production" and other "photovoltaic +" application scenarios, and broaden the depth and breadth of the photovoltaic market through application mode innovation.

In this regard, Tongwei has taken the lead in the new energy industry chain terminal layout, the first "fishing and light integration" development model, the organic integration of photovoltaic power generation and aquaculture, to achieve efficient and compound utilization of land and resources. At present, Tongwei in more than 20 provinces and cities in the country to build 51 "fishing light integration"-based photovoltaic power plants, the cumulative grid-connected scale of more than 3GW.

in the process of promoting the "double carbon" goal, Sichuan has a bright future. Relying on resource advantages, Sichuan recently proposed to develop and build photovoltaic wind power projects with complementary water and wind power according to local conditions, and strive to add 3.5 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power generation in 2023. At present, Sichuan's green and low-carbon advantageous industries are growing strongly. From January to February, the crystalline silicon photovoltaic industry increased by 76%. "Tongwei Solar will give full play to the traction role of the chain's main enterprises to help Sichuan build a photovoltaic 100 billion-level green industrial cluster," Liu Hanyuan said.