Photovoltaic Giants "Fight Hard" Large Size Silicon Industry To Accelerate The Reshuffle

Recently, major photovoltaic giants have released new components. The size of the photovoltaic industry is also growing.

In recent years, high-power components based on large size silicon chips have become an innovative trend in photovoltaic industry. After some changes, the dispute of PV size has escalated to the controversy between "182mm" and "210mm". "The standard of silicon wafer size in domestic PV industry has not been unified, which objectively caused the increase of manufacturing cost in the industry chain." A senior analyst with a new energy industry who declined to be named told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter. However, it is undeniable that one of the reasons behind the intense controversy over the large scale silicon standard among the major manufacturers is to occupy the market dominance of the next 5 to 10 years.

In late June, the M10 (182mm * 182mm) silicon wafer size standard initiative jointly issued by Longji, Jingke energy, jingo technology and atth and other seven enterprises launched the "182mm" and "210mm" dimension dispute to a climax. In twenty-first Century, the economic news reporter found that although the M10 alliance represented by Longji shares seemed to be a pioneer in the battle for the size contest, there were also a few enterprises supporting the "210mm" dimension. Even some members of the M10 alliance have not excluded this dimension.

It is not yet known who will be unified.

"182mm" is threatening.

"The size of silicon wafer used by enterprises is not uniform, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost of photovoltaic industry chains including silicon wafers, batteries to components and glass and other auxiliary materials, and causing greater distress to customer product selection, photovoltaic system installation, upstream and downstream synergy." Referring to the joint standard size M10 silicon standard released more than 10 days ago, Wang Yingge, general manager of Longji shares, quoted the proposal from the twenty-first Century economic report reporter.

Wang Yingge told the twenty-first Century business news reporter that Longji shares, based on the analysis of the existing industry chain, including equipment, transportation, BOS (PV balance system) cost and LCOE (leveling power cost) and other aspects of the calculation, found that "182mm" is the most cost-effective scale.

In June 29th this year, Longji shares issued a new component Hi-Mo 5. This new product has been released for about a week from time to time, and has been regarded as a product produced by Longji shares for the joint initiative. The parameters show that Hi-Mo 5 is made of M10 gallium silicon wafer, and the power and efficiency of components are 540W and 21.1% respectively.

Prior to that, M10 alliance members, Jingu technology and Jingke energy also released new products. Among them, Jingke Energy announced Tiger Pro series component products, using 180mm silicon wafer size, the highest power up to 580W.

In fact, when the industry's internal choice supports "182mm" or "210mm" size, based on the feasibility of the existing PV industry chain maturity and capacity upgrading, it becomes the main factor of "queue up".

"(launch) 18X size is due to its considerable power, reliable transportation and controllable cost, and it can reduce industry losses and costs by gathering together." Qian Jing, vice president of Jingke energy, said in an interview with the economic news reporter twenty-first Century, "182mm" has the following advantages: first, the feasibility of the version design, including the matching of battery segment, glass backplane and other auxiliary materials, matching of inverter and bracket, container transportation, loading and unloading complexity, ergonomics and safety of personnel installation, installation and maintenance convenience. Sex and so on; second, component power and component efficiency, both to accommodate the packaging size, but also to ensure high power, at the same time reduce the packaging loss, improve the effective power generation area and improve energy density; third, the adoption of the specification, the lower the scale cost, the stronger the upstream and downstream synergy.

The industry generally agrees that large silicon is the inevitable choice to reduce LCOE. But every change in the size of the silicon wafer is a test of compatibility between the upstream and downstream devices. According to the analysis of Shen Gang securities, "the size of silicon wafers changes, the downstream battery parts and components need to be adjusted together. The main development direction of M6 (166mm), M10 (182mm) and M12 (210mm) at present is significantly different from the upstream and downstream compatibility. According to the research of the organization, the compatibility degree is ranked as M6>M10>M12 in the silicon rod bar, only M12 needs to replace the equipment. In the battery segment, compatibility M6>M10>M12, M10 and M12 need to be replaced; in the component segment, the transportation size and power limit the M10, and M10 is more adaptable.

In twenty-first Century, the economic news reporter found that the industry's concerns about the "210mm" dimension lie in the cost of manufacturing inputs, the slow climbing capacity and so on. These are the advantages of the current "182mm" size.

Wang Yingge told the twenty-first Century business news reporter that according to the existing production line conditions and component size constraints, "182mm" size is the best choice for new production capacity. He also said that the existing capacity "166mm" size is more appropriate, based on "166mm" Hi-MO 4 in next year's Longji shares of the module shipment will still have about 70% percentage.

In addition, the twenty-first Century economic news reporter also noted that the follow-up of new products after production capacity is not a problem for Longji shares. According to capacity planning, Longji's Hi-Mo 5 new product is expected to climb to 12GW in the third quarter of this year. In the first quarter of next year, with the volume of production in the United States, its total global capacity will reach 13.5GW.

"210mm" is not to be outdone.

The "210mm" size companies, which are made up of central shares, Trina Solar and orient risers, are under a bit of pressure.

The M10 Alliance launched by Longji shares is threatening. The bigger problem is the maturity of the industrial chain and the lower production cost behind the "182mm" dimension. Some people are not optimistic about the current development of "210mm" size.

However, the aforementioned senior analyst told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that "182mm" size is based on the current industrial chain to adapt to the trend of the large silicon wafer made an excellent solution, but the "210mm" size of the future development potential is also unquestionable. "From the logic of the PV industry's parity, the effect of the size of the silicon wafer is immediate." The person said that the final product is market demand, and the market should not have only one option.

"In fact, when we choose large size silicon chips, we have made different attempts to all kinds of sizes, and finally chose the size of" 210mm ". Trina Solar responsible person in an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report reporters said that according to the calculation, "210mm" is able to support the PV industry in the future system end price performance to the ultimate size.

The official admitted that at present, the "182mm" size is easier to transform on the existing capacity, but with the large number of new planned production capacity of the industry put into operation, the "210mm" dimension will bring more benefits to the industrial chain.

In February of this year, Trina Solar released the "500W+ extreme" component product, which is based on the "210mm" large size silicon wafer, and the efficiency of the component is as high as 21%. Then, in March, Trina Solar's new product line was formally produced in the second quarter and is expected to achieve mass production in the third quarter of this year. At the end of the year, the capacity of the new product is more than 5GW.

Twenty-first Century economic report reporter noted that the main domestic battery chip and component manufacturers have carried out capacity planning for the "210mm" dimension. Especially in terms of new capacity, many manufacturers are compatible with the "210mm" dimension. Among them, M10 alliance enterprise member Jo technology also plans to build "210mm" size of the new capacity.

In April of this year, Jo Technology issued a fixed increase plan to raise funds of not more than 5 billion 200 million yuan for "annual 5GW efficient battery and 10GW efficient components and supporting projects" and "supplementary working capital". The company said that the above projects will adopt advanced technology in the industry, and will apply large silicon wafers with 180mm-210mm length.

According to incomplete statistics of the twenty-first Century economic report, in the aspect of "210mm" size compatibility, apart from the technology of crystal Australia, leading companies such as Tongwei group, Xinxin group, AI Xu technology and so on have all joined the camp, which makes the dispute of dimension complicated and confusing. The "retention" of the "210mm" size by various enterprises shows that they are also looking for a balance in the battle of this dimension.

"The elimination of large and old capacity in the photovoltaic market needs time to be deliberated and carried out. From 2020 to the next 2-3 years, the market is likely to show 2-3 parallel forms of mainstream size." Photovoltaic industry analyst PV InfoLink believes that the size of the iteration is still gradual, but in order to allow continued expansion of new capacity, new product life can be extended for a longer period, the development of medium and long-term size and compatibility of production lines are still discussed closely by manufacturers this year.