News

On March 15, Jolywood, a solar cell and module manufacturer, announced the signing of a strategic cooperation and investment agreement with Taiyuan government and Gujiao government to invest in an industrial silicon facility and a high-purity polysilicon facility in Gujiao City, Shanxi Province, China. The annual design capacity of the industrial silicon project is 200,000 tons, while that of the high-purity polysilicon project is 100,000 tons. The total investment is expected to be 14 billion yuan. The projects are planned to be constructed in two phases. For phase one, the industrial silicon facility and an annual output of 10,000 tons of high-purity polysilicon facility will be constructed. The projects are expected to begin operation in 2024. For phase two, the remaining high-purity polysilicon facility with an annual output of 90,000 tons will be built. Jolywood believes that the projects will expand the company's layout in the solar value chain. At the same time, as the company's high-efficiency cell production capacity is gradually put into production, its demand for wafers will rise in the future. In view of the tight supply and high prices of polysilicon, Jolywood intends to strengthen its ability to produce polysilicon, which will help further ensure the supply of silicon wafers. According to Jolywood, the company has built up 6.6 GW of n-type bifacial cell and module production capacity, and shipped 4.1GW of n-type bifacial cell and modules globally. In January, the module maker has reported to have supplied 153 MW of TOPCon modules to what's believed to be the world's largest solar power plant.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Wednesday published an action plan on supporting China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality strategies, focusing on breakthroughs and applications of key scientific technologies on topics including carbon sinking, cleaner and more efficient energy, and green development. The action plan, published at the headquarters of China's top science institution in Beijing, demonstrates CAS' timeline in science and technology development to support the country's carbon goals, as well as its 18 major tasks, the Global Times learned. China vowed to reach carbon peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. According to the action plan, by 2025, CAS will have realized breakthroughs in several key technologies to support the carbon peak goal, which includes clarifying the mechanism of carbon sinking to form a scientific plan on carbon source monitoring and calculation. By 2030, the key technologies to support carbon peak should reach advanced levels in the world. By 2060, a batch of original and disruptive technologies will be applied to strongly support the realization of the carbon neutrality goal. To reach the aims of the action plan, CAS also presented 18 major tasks. For instance, it vowed to strengthen the deep integration of energy with basic studies such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry, as well as integration with edge technologies such as the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G. CAS will develop key technologies at a low-cost and high-efficiency energies including wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, ocean energy, geothermal energy, and other renewable energy sources, as well as make breakthroughs in smart grid and distributed energy to support this form of future power systems with new energy as the main body. The academy will also make efforts to provide technical support to the safe and sustainable development of nuclear power. It also listed maintaining talent in carbon emission reduction, enhance multilateral cooperation, promote the construction of key labs, and publicize and spread knowledge about carbon goals as part of its key tasks. Zhang Tao, Vice President of CAS, said at the press conference on Wednesday that CAS has fully leaned into its advantages of multi-disciplinary institutionalization to organize academicians and experts to form this action plan with nearly half a year of discussions and refinements. "The action plan is an open science and technology plan that keeps pace with the times and will be adjusted and updated according to the international situation and national strategic needs," Zhang noted. "The carbon peak and carbon neutrality goal is not only a political promise by China to participate in global environmental management and confronting climate change, but also a broad and deep systematic revolution in the economic society," Yu Guirui, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of CAS said on Wednesday. "It is more like a scientific and technological revolution for us," he said.

Newly installed solar PV capacity in China is expected to reach over 75 GW and is likely to fall between 75 GW and 90 GW in 2022, said Wang Bohua, Honorary Chairman of China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), on the association`s Review and Outlook webinar held on Wednesday. In 2021, China added a record 54.88 GW of solar PV installations. This year, the number is predicted to grow by 36% to 64%. The annual solar PV addictions, according to Wang, may reach 83 GW to 99 GW between 2022 and 2025. Last year, China's solar PV industry witnessed exponential growth, with the output value of manufacturing end exceeding 750 billion yuan. The export volume of solar PV products (silicon wafers, cells and modules) also hit a record high of more than US $28 billion. In Wang's outlook for 2022, he believes both centralized and distributed projects will experience quick development in China. Opprotunities abound Xing Yiteng, Director of the New and Renewable Energy Department of China`s National Energy Administration (NEA), said at the webinar that at present, the first batch of 100 GW large-scale wind and solar projects are under construction in desert areas. Without harming the local ecology, the projects will rely on existing transmission lines and peak shaving measures. Last year, China started the county-level trials of distributed solar installations. So far, 676 counties in 31 provinces have applied to roll out the project. Data shows that 29.28 GW of distributed solar was installed in 2021, accounting for about 55% of the total newly installed capacity, surpassing the capacity of centralized projects for the first time in history. The total installed capacity of distributed projects has exceeded 100 GW, accounting for about one third of the total solar installed capacity. The National Development and Reform Commission and other three ministries and commissions proposed that by 2025, solar PV coverage on the rooftops of public institutions should reach 50%. Challenges persist However, "the solar industry are still faced with many challenges in the future," said Xing. He added that, [the manufacturing end is still lack of coordination and stability, driving up the prices of the solar value chain, which has affected the installation of solar PV projects to a certain extent." Wang Bohua said that, since the second half of 2020 when the pandemic eased off, market demand has rebounded. This has led to the quick expansion of production capacity of downstream enterprises that have huge demand for polysilicon. Although silicon manufacturers like Tongwei, GCL, Asia silicon, Xinte, Daqo have expanded production in 2020 after the price rise, the added capacity can only start producing at the end of 2021 or in 2022 due to the long production expansion cycle. The unbalance between supply and demand is the major reason behind the soaring prices. Solar project development is also faced with many problems. The mandatory requirement of storage facilities in solar PV projects and high land costs are still restricting the development of the industry. Besides, as counties roll out solar PV deployments on rooftops, some have violated market-oriented principles by designating the projects to specific developers and arbitrarily attaching additional conditions.

On February 15, the world`s first ground-mounted solar PV station with Microquanta`s perovskite modules began construction in Qujiang, a district in China`s costal province Zhejiang. The commencement ceremony of the perovskite ground-mounted project in Qujiang district The project covers an area of about 166,666 m2, with an installed capacity of 12 MW and a total investment of 60 million yuan. Once the project is completed, it will be the world's first ground-mounted solar PV station with perovskite modules. The commencement of the project marks the maturity of the much anticipated next-gen perovskite technology. In November last year, Microquanta reported a new world record efficiency of 21.4% for the stabilized efficiency of perovskite mini-module. And only a month later, the company set another record for its four-terminal perovskite-Si tandem module, which reaches a conversion efficiency of 26.63%. Perovskite is believed to have excellent optical and electrical properties, and the cost of raw materials is only about 5% of that of silicon-based products. It is believed to have huge potential for large-scale applications. Yao Jizhong, chairman of Microquanta New Energy, said on the project commencement ceremony that Microquanta has built the world`s first perovskite facility with 100 MW production capacity. He believed that the ground-mounted perovskite solar farm will become a milestone for the solar PV industry.

China's primary aluminum output is expected to reach 38.9 million mt in 2021, up 4.3% from a year earlier, but the estimates were still below the 40 million mt forecast made earlier this year, China's state-owned research agency Antaike said late Dec. 24. China's alumina output is likely to reach 75.2 million in 2021, also rising from the year-ago levels, the agency said. In view of anticipated economic growth and increasing coal supply in China, power restrictions may have lesser impact on primary aluminum production in the coming year. However, the output increase would be limited, Antaike said. Primary aluminum China's move to implement tough energy consumption controls impacted production of primary aluminum smelters throughout the year in 2021, leading to output curbs. China's aluminum industry saw an eventful year as severe power shortage in September, along with natural disasters and production accidents kept the sector on a tight leash. 2021 also marks the first year after China released carbon emission targets, including reaching carbon neutrality before 2060, Antaike said. In 2021, Chinese smelters have cut a total capacity of 3.8 million mt/year while new capacity only reached 450,000 mt/year, according to Antaike. Smelters also resumed about 1.23 million mt/year of idled capacity, a move mostly driven by high profit margins. China had an installed capacity of 43.25 million mt/year at the end of December, up 0.93 million mt/year compared to the same period last year. Running capacity has reached 37.7 million mt/year, down nearly 2 million mt/year from last year, Antaike said. Some Chinese smelters that faced losses due to production hurdles seen earlier in the year have managed to turn the tide in December, marking gains as aluminum prices jumped and production costs declined, the agency said. In November, the industry reported an average loss of Yuan 1,780 on every mt produced, Antaike data showed. Alumina China's rising alumina output in 2021 was attributed to new capacity that came online in Guangxi and Guizhou. China has put 1.7 million mt/year new alumina capacity into operation in 2021, according to Antaike. At the end of December, China's total alumina production capacity reached 90.35 million mt/year, up 1.7 million mt/year from the last year. The all-in production cost of alumina in December rose 19.8% from a year earlier, reaching Yuan 2,684/mt, Antaike data showed. Chinese refineries saw a significant increase in their profit margins from September through November, but margins fell sharply in December amid falling alumina prices.