Polysilicon breaks through technological innovation and brightens China's photovoltaic industry

On April 19, the Hainan Provincial Government and Yingli Group, China's largest photovoltaic manufacturer with a complete industrial chain, signed a cooperation framework agreement at the Haikou Industrial Base Construction Cooperation Framework Agreement, fully launching Yingli Group's investment plan to establish a photovoltaic industrial base in Hainan for Southeast Asia.
Since settling in Hainan in 2009, Yingli Group has actively deployed photovoltaic industrial bases in the local area. The first phase of the 100-megawatt polysilicon solar cell module project will be completed and put into production at the end of June, and the 20-megawatt photovoltaic grid-connected power generation project has also been included in the national "Golden Sun" demonstration project. In the next 3-5 years, Yingli Group will also invest 11 billion yuan in Hainan to build its second photovoltaic industrial base in China. At the same time, data released by the Wuxi Municipal Government also showed that in the first quarter of this year, the city's total investment in the photovoltaic industry exceeded 18 billion yuan.
Technological innovation reverses the trend of polysilicon
Since the financial crisis, photovoltaic industry development projects led by local governments are everywhere, which makes people speculate that China's future photovoltaic industry development may move towards the path of "government-enterprise co-advancement", and for the Chinese photovoltaic industry, which has always been uncared for,
the difficult period of "grandma doesn't love, uncle doesn't love" may become a thing of the past.
The photovoltaic industry, as a representative of new energy, was originally just a small and marginal industry. In 2003, starting with the German photovoltaic subsidy policy, the European photovoltaic market demand was first opened, and the global photovoltaic market also entered a wild growth stage. In China, the myth of making money has attracted too much capital to enter the polysilicon industry, which has also caused the fundamental problem of the development of China's photovoltaic industry: in the international market, 98% of China's polysilicon modules are exported, and most of China's photovoltaic module companies import foreign polysilicon materials. Moreover, polysilicon materials are technology-intensive industries with large-scale production and high automation. Most of China's polysilicon companies have introduced complete sets of foreign equipment and do not master core technologies. In terms of production costs, they have no competitive advantage at all.
The situation of polysilicon and the entire photovoltaic industry development process has attracted the attention of the National Energy Administration and the National Development and Reform Commission. The National Development and Reform Commission has issued regulations to raise the entry threshold for polysilicon and restrict the entry of polysilicon projects below 3,000 tons. With the end of the era of polysilicon profits that were in short supply and could be sold as long as it was in stock, silicon material prices and market investment have returned to rationality, and China's photovoltaic industry has entered a "close combat" of competing products and costs.
The thirst for core technology has promoted the self-growth of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises. At present, domestic enterprises have mastered the production technology of 1,000-ton polysilicon, and Chinese enterprises have also made breakthrough progress in large-scale production technology. In April this year, Jiangxi LDK, the world's largest polysilicon wafer manufacturer, successfully reached production of 2,000 silicon wafers. LDK became the world's first photovoltaic enterprise with a production capacity of 2,000, and it was also the first Chinese polysilicon wafer manufacturer to achieve the world's first in technology.
Government and enterprises join hands to achieve industrial win-win
results Many problems in the early stage of industrial development have laid hidden dangers for the long-term development of the domestic photovoltaic industry: after the outbreak of the international financial crisis, the domestic photovoltaic industry suffered a serious impact. With the introduction of policies such as the Ten Major Industrial Revitalization Plans and the Strategic Emerging Industry Plan, the domestic photovoltaic industry has begun to present a new round of investment boom. With the strong support of local governments, photovoltaic projects in various places have been launched one after another, and China's photovoltaic industry has begun to blossom all over the country.
In Wuxi, Jiangsu, led by the municipal government, many high-tech central enterprises have cooperated with Wuxi private high-tech enterprises. Among them, China Guodian cooperated with Yixing Jingde Solar Energy to invest 8 billion yuan in the "photovoltaic building integration" project, making Yixing an important production base for the photovoltaic industry. In addition, Poly GCL and Dongfang Electric respectively acquired Wuxi Gaojia Solar Energy and Maiji Solar Energy Company, with an investment of about 2 billion yuan each. After restructuring and technical transformation, the output of solar cell raw silicon wafers and battery finished components of these two companies will be greatly increased. Among
them, selecting photovoltaic companies with core technology and innovation capabilities, and combining local resource advantages with corporate advantages and industrial potential has become an issue that the government pays special attention to. Taking Hainan as an example, Yingli Group, a cooperative enterprise of the photovoltaic industry base radiating Southeast Asia, was founded in 1987 and is the only photovoltaic manufacturer in China with a complete industrial chain from silicon materials, ingots, slices, battery cells, battery components to photovoltaic application systems. With total assets of 18 billion yuan, in addition to its headquarters in Baoding, China, it has branches in important markets such as Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and the United States. After the two sides reached a cooperation, relying on Hainan's superior geographical location, convenient transportation conditions, and good economic development environment, Yingli Group will build a series of related supporting industrial projects including photovoltaic industry, silicon materials and electronic information materials, large-capacity energy storage industry, industrial design and vocational education and training, national key laboratory of solar photovoltaic power generation technology, and global customer service center.
At present, policy inclination has promoted China's photovoltaic enterprises to make breakthrough progress. Large-scale production technology has been far ahead in the world, but there is still a way to go in reducing energy consumption and paying attention to environmental protection. As a photovoltaic industry expert said, as more multinational companies' resources, sales, networks, and technologies are grafted into the photovoltaic industry, the degree and level of competition in the photovoltaic industry are rising. Under the situation of increasing quality and performance requirements in the international market, in addition to relying on policy protection, future Chinese polysilicon enterprises also need to continue to improve technology content and reduce costs.