Source: Entrepreneur

Industry definition

Photovoltaic cells are semiconductor devices that directly convert light energy into electrical energy. Photovoltaic cells work based on the photoelectric effect, when light hits a semiconductor material, such as silicon, the photon energy excites the electrons, causing them to transition and produce an electric current. Multiple photovoltaic cells can be assembled in series or parallel to form photovoltaic modules for use in solar power generation systems. Photovoltaic cells are widely used in various photovoltaic power generation scenarios such as ground power stations, rooftop solar energy systems, and space equipment.

According to data released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, by the end of 2023, the total global cell production capacity will reach 1,032GW, and the total global cell production will reach 643.6GW. According to the CPIA forecast, the global new photovoltaic installed capacity is expected to reach 462GW and 587GW in 2025 and 2030 respectively, of which the new domestic installed capacity is expected to reach 237GW and 317GW respectively, accounting for about 51% and 54% of the global total installed capacity. At present, while the photovoltaic industry is becoming more and more mature in technology and production efficiency is constantly improving, problems such as fierce competition, imbalance between supply and demand, and continuous decline in industrial chain prices are gradually becoming prominent.

In May this year, under the guidance of the Department of Electronic Information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association organized a "Symposium on the High-quality Development of the Photovoltaic Industry" in Beijing. It is proposed to encourage industry mergers and acquisitions and smooth market exit mechanisms; strengthen the crackdown on vicious competition in sales below cost; Ensure the stable growth of the domestic photovoltaic market.

In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the Administrative Measures for the Standardized Announcement of the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Industry (2024 Edition) (draft for comments) to continue to guide photovoltaic enterprises to reduce photovoltaic manufacturing projects that simply expand production capacity and avoid low-level repeated expansion.

On October 18, the official official account of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association issued a notice that the bidding for photovoltaic modules below the cost was suspected of violating the law, and the minimum cost price was announced at 0.68 yuan/W.

In addition to the pricing mechanism, on the other hand, the technical route of photovoltaics, major enterprises are concerned about improving cell efficiency and achieving lower costs and higher outputs. With the increasing maturity of various photovoltaic industry chains, photovoltaic cells, as the decisive factor influencing the photoelectric conversion efficiency, are the core technological transformation field of the photovoltaic industry chain at this stage.

The upstream industrial chain mainly involves the production and preliminary processing of basic materials for photovoltaic cells, and the core is the production and processing of high-purity silicon materials

Silicon production: natural silica ore is purified into photovoltaic-grade high-purity silicon, mainly including polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon.

Silicon ingot/ingot manufacturing: The silicon material is further heated and crystallized to make monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon rods/ingots.

Wafer cutting: Silicon rods or ingots are cut into ultra-thin silicon wafers, which are used as the basic materials for photovoltaic cells, and the quality and thickness of the slices directly affect the efficiency and performance of photovoltaic cells.

The midstream industry chain involves the production and manufacturing process of photovoltaic cells, which is the core link of photovoltaic cell technology

Cell production: Diffusion, etching, passivation, coating, screen printing, etc., etc., to make the silicon wafer have photoelectric conversion capabilities. Mainstream cell types include PERC cells, N-type cells, TOPCon cells, HJT cells, etc.

Production equipment supply: including diffusion furnace, etching machine, coating machine, laser scribing machine and other precision equipment, which directly affects the photoelectric conversion efficiency and yield rate of cells.

The downstream industrial chain is the assembly, application and market terminal of photovoltaic cells, mainly including module manufacturing, system integration and power station construction

Module manufacturing: Cells are connected in series and parallel and packaged into photovoltaic modules. The encapsulation material (e.g., glass, backplane, EVA film, etc.) and process of the module determine the stability, durability and output performance of the module.

Photovoltaic system integration: Combine photovoltaic modules with inverters, power management systems, etc., to form a complete photovoltaic power generation system for ground, rooftop, and distributed generation applications.

Construction and operation and maintenance of photovoltaic power plants: including the planning, installation, operation and maintenance and energy storage management of photovoltaic power plants to ensure the long-term stable operation of the system.

The efficiency and cost of photovoltaic power generation are about equal to the efficiency and cost of photovoltaic power station, and photovoltaic cells are an important part of the construction of photovoltaic power station, which plays a decisive role in the efficiency and cost of the power station. Therefore, the key to reducing the cost of photovoltaic power generation lies in photovoltaic cells. According to different substrate materials, photovoltaic cells can be divided into monocrystalline PERC cells, monocrystalline cells, monocrystalline silicon solar cells, polycrystalline cells and amorphous cells.

Among them, monocrystalline silicon solar cells are currently the fastest growing type, their structure and production process have been matured, and the products are widely used in space and ground scenes, and the raw materials of this kind of cells are high-purity monocrystalline silicon rods. At the same time, as Chinese photovoltaic companies continue to increase their technology research and development efforts, new cell technologies such as perovskite solar cells have emerged, and high-efficiency cell technologies such as TOPCon (tunneling oxide passivation contact) and HJT (heterojunction) are also gradually moving towards commercial application.

Smartbeast analyzes and sorts out the financing situation of photovoltaic cell-related companies in recent years, the number of financing events and the amount of events are generally rising first and then declining, the number of financing events has maintained a steady growth from 19 to 22 years, and the number of events and the amount of events in 22 years have reached the highest in recent years, with 73 cases amounting to 47 billion yuan from 22 years to November 24, and the number of financing events has shown a downward trend.

Related Businesses

Phenomenon photovoltaics

Founded in August 2022, Shenzhen Phenomenon Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd. is a provider focusing on customized perovskite photovoltaic modules. It is committed to the R&D and manufacturing of new solar cells, providing customers with products including single-junction high-performance perovskite modules, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) cells or curtain walls, four-terminal and two-terminal perovskites, crystalline silicon tandem cell modules and other products.

Phenomenal PV focuses on the development of new perovskite materials, has original functional materials and preparation solutions, combined with advanced high-throughput AI new material development platform, continuously enhances material design and synthesis capabilities, and continues to develop perovskite materials that are more suitable for industrialization. At the same time, Phenomenon PV has joined hands with a number of universities and research institutes at home and abroad, as well as industry-leading equipment suppliers, to help improve the performance of perovskites.

Phenomenal PV also has industry-leading perovskite tandem technology, and actively solves the industry's pain points in the industrialization of perovskite tandem by introducing self-developed functional materials and new tandem equipment in cooperation with industry-leading equipment suppliers. At present, Phenomenon PV has established the top perovskite thin-film photovoltaic R&D center in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

In October 2024, Phenomenon Solar announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round of financing, which will be invested by Lihe Science and Technology Innovation, and the funds will be used to further increase the company's scientific research investment and promote the transformation of achievements.

Yiheng PV

Founded in September 2023, Huainan Yiheng Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd. is a new energy company integrating R&D, production and sales of photovoltaic cells and modules.

Yiheng Solar has made three major technological breakthroughs in the field of heterojunction perovskite tandem cells: oxide nanoparticle coating technology has achieved the ultimate uniform coverage of perovskite films; Molecular ferroelectric in-situ passivation technology effectively improves the photoelectric conversion performance and long-term stability of the battery. The wafer-level single-crystal perovskite film was successfully grown in the low-concentration supersaturated solution system, which solved the technical bottleneck of poor stability. These technological innovations not only improve the performance of products, but also lay a solid foundation for the company's market competitiveness.

At present, Yiheng Photovoltaic is building a heterojunction tandem high-efficiency cell production base. With a total investment of about 6.6 billion yuan and a planned total land area of about 538 acres, the first phase of the project will build a 2.4GW heterojunction tandem high-efficiency cell production line and a 100MW perovskite tandem cell pilot line.

In September 2024, Yiheng Solar completed an angel round of financing of 100 million yuan, which was exclusively invested by Eucalyptus Capital. This round of funds will be mainly used for the commissioning and daily operation of the heterojunction tandem high-efficiency battery project.

Optocrystalline Energy

Founded in May 2022, Guangdong Optocrystal Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is a developer of perovskite solar cell modules, committed to the R&D and mass production of large-area perovskite solar cell modules with high efficiency and long life. The use of full-printing technology based on slit coating is expected to achieve an effect similar to that of the printing press in those years, and the production of perovskite modules at low cost, high efficiency and rapid is conducive to the rapid popularization of perovskite technology.

In order to reduce the impact of disordered growth of perovskite crystals, Kohing Energy has developed an exclusive perovskite ink formula. By formulating perovskite inks, no perovskite crystals are formed during the coating process. After the tightly structured film is formed, dense perovskite crystals are formed through a reaction during the annealing process, so the pain point of disordered growth of perovskite crystals during the drying process can be avoided. At the same time, the ink technology enables continuous slit coating, which greatly improves production efficiency.

In August 2024, Optocrystal Energy announced the completion of the A+ round of financing with an amount of hundreds of millions of yuan, led by Dingfeng Science and Technology, followed by Yinrun Capital, and the excess additional investment by the old shareholders Qiming Venture Capital and Dingxiang Capital. This round of financing provides sufficient guarantee for effectively solving various engineering problems of large-scale continuous production, improving production capacity and yield, and preparing for GW-level mass production. In August 2022, it completed an angel round of financing of 30 million yuan, led by Zhengxuan Investment, followed by Innovation Works and Dingxiang Capital. In July 2023, Optocrystalline announced the completion of a RMB 160 million Series A financing, which will be mainly used for the construction of a 100MW perovskite pilot line, and will continue to promote technology research and development, optimize processes, and improve the comprehensive performance of modules.

Hot information

In October 2024, photovoltaic cell maker Laplace rose more than 286% on its first day of listing

On October 30, it was reported that Laplace New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was officially listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board on October 29, 2024 with "688726" as the stock code. On the first day of listing, Laplace opened 468% higher. As of the close of trading on the first day, Laplace was quoted at 67.91 yuan per share, up 286.29% from the issue price, with a market value of 27.526 billion yuan.

In October 2024, JinkoSolar will seek to list in Germany, or become the first PV company to be listed in China, the United States and Europe

On October 20, JinkoSolar (688223. SH) announced that it plans to issue GDRs and list them on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany. This will be JinkoSolar's second international capital operation platform after its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, and the company is also expected to become the first PV company to be listed in China, the United States and Europe.

In October 2024, a new record for solar cell efficiency: close to 34%, Chinese scientists have made photovoltaic cell efficiency exceed the physical limit of a single junction

Recently, LONGi Green Energy, Soochow University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Huaneng and other institutions jointly published a study in Nature, saying that the solar cells they designed have been certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency has reached nearly 33.9%, once again setting a new world record for solar cells. What's more, this is not a commonly used single-junction solar cell (such as a silicon solar cell), but a double-junction tandem solar cell that effectively combines perovskite with silicon solar cells.

In September 2024, the Chinese-funded background: Oman's 100,000-ton high-purity polysilicon plant will be put into operation next year

On September 29, China Chemical Engineering Third Construction Co., Ltd. held the first lifting ceremony of the 3,200-ton crawler crane at the site of the joint solar polysilicon project in the Sohar Free Trade Zone. Subsequently, the heaviest and highest distillation tower of the distillation unit of the 100,000/year high-purity silicon-based project of United Solar Energy was hoisted in place at one time, marking a new record for the independent hoisting of overrun towers of more than 500 tons in the national project of Sinochem Sanjian in Oman. With an investment of more than US$1.35 billion, the 160,000-square-meter Sohar Port Free Trade Zone between Dubai and Muscat, the capital of Oman, is expected to be operational next year.

In September 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guidelines for the Construction of the Photovoltaic Industry Standard System (2024 Edition).

On September 25, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on the issuance of the Guidelines for the Construction of the Standard System for the Photovoltaic Industry (2024 Edition). According to the "Notice", the key directions of the photovoltaic industry standard system include 9 directions: basic general standards, photovoltaic equipment standards, photovoltaic material standards, photovoltaic cell and module standards, photovoltaic component standards, photovoltaic system standards, photovoltaic application standards, smart photovoltaic standards, and green photovoltaic standards.