The photovoltaic industry chain is in the midst of a difficult "anti-involution" wave in China, while overseas, there is a quiet and frequent good news of factory construction.

Leading JA Solar Technology (SZ:002459) is one of them. Following the announcement of the construction of a factory in the United States in 2023, JA Solar has laid out production bases in the Middle East and North Africa this year.

Huaxia Energy Network (public number hxny3060) learned that on December 19, JA Solar Technology announced that it plans to invest in the construction of Oman with an annual output of 6GW of high-efficiency solar cells and 3GW of high-power solar modules, with a total investment of RMB 3.957 billion.

The project is located in the Sohar Free Trade Zone in Oman, and the construction is completed by leasing land, building new production plants and supporting buildings, and purchasing production equipment and supporting facilities, with funding sources including but not limited to own funds, external equity financing, financial institution financing, etc.

On November 21, Egypt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Global South Utilities and JA Solar in the United Arab Emirates

Just a month ago, JA Solar signed a memorandum of understanding with Global SouthUtilities in the United Arab Emirates, which plans to jointly build a 2GW solar cell and 2GW PV module factory in Egypt, with a total investment of US$213 million (US$1.555 billion) in the two factories.

Recently, on December 16, EliTe Solar, a global professional photovoltaic system developer, also held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Egyptian project in Suez, Egypt, which is located in the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, covering an area of 78,000 square meters, planning to build a 2GW solar cell and 3GW solar module production line, which is expected to be fully operational in September 2025.

On December

16, Suez, Egypt - The groundbreaking ceremony of Boda New Energy EliTe Solar Egypt project

It is reported that since its establishment, EliTe Solar has set up six production bases in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Egypt, forming an international industrial layout.

Obviously, not only photovoltaic leaders, but also industrial chain enterprises have accelerated the pace of building factories at sea this year. According to incomplete statistics from Huaxia Energy Network, a total of 21 overseas factory construction plans will be announced in 2024.

It is worth noting that compared with last year's rush to build factories in the United States, this year's trend of building factories at sea has changed.

Go to emerging markets

In 2023, the destination of PV companies to build factories overseas will mainly be in the United States, but this year, the construction sites will mainly focus on emerging markets, and they are showing the characteristics of blossoming everywhere.

The Middle East is currently the hottest PV export to Haiti. Since the beginning of this year, a total of 8 photovoltaic companies have announced that they will build factories in the Middle East.

In addition to JA Solar, Jinko Power (SH:688223), Junda (SZ:002865), Trina Solar (SH:688599), and GCL Technology (HK:03800) have all announced plans to build factories in the Middle East.

Among them, Jinko Power plans to build a 10GW high-efficiency cell and module project in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture. Junda chose to invest in the construction of a 10GW high-efficiency battery production base in the Sohar Free Trade Zone in the Sultanate of Oman, and the first phase of the 5GW high-efficiency battery project is scheduled to start before the end of the year. Trina Solar plans to invest in the construction of a photovoltaic industry chain including 50,000 tons of polysilicon, 30GW of silicon wafers and 5GW of cell modules in the UAE's China-UAE Production Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park and Khalifa Economic Zone. GCL Technology also chose to land its first overseas granular silicon project base in the United Arab Emirates, with a planned polysilicon production capacity of 120,000 tons.

In addition, three photovoltaic bracket companies - Arctech (SH: 688408), Zhenjiang (SH: 603507), and Antai New Energy also announced that they will build bracket factories in Saudi Arabia.

Coupled with the 20GW crystal wafer factory in Saudi Arabia of TCL Zhonghuan (SZ:002129), which has begun to be deployed in 2023, and the 100,000-ton silicon material project in Oman operated by Zhang Longgen, a photovoltaic industry ecology covering the four major links of the main photovoltaic industry chain and supporting the energy storage and support of the auxiliary industry chain has taken shape in the Middle East.

It is not surprising that the Middle East has attracted so many Chinese PV companies to build factories. In addition to the local government to support the local industrial chain by strengthening cooperation with Chinese enterprises, the Middle East market is currently one of the fastest growing photovoltaic markets in the world, and the photovoltaic products produced in the Middle East base can also radiate the European and American markets, so the choice to build a factory in the Middle East is of far-reaching strategic significance.

At the same time, emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa have also attracted some companies to set up factories.

In Latin America, in September this year, Arctech announced that it would build a 3GW photovoltaic bracket smart production base in Brazil; In October, the new star of cross-border photovoltaics, Pure Solar, announced the construction of a photovoltaic cell project in Mexico.

In Africa, in addition to JA Solar's construction of a cell module factory in Egypt, Lihao also announced that it will invest in the construction of 180,000 tons of metallurgical silicon and 150,000 tons of polysilicon projects in Angola, with an initial production capacity of 50,000 tons.

In the shadow of the "double anti-dumping" in the United States, the main enterprises in the photovoltaic auxiliary industry chain that have built factories in Southeast Asia this year are the enterprises in the photovoltaic auxiliary industry chain. For example, Kibing Glass (SH: 601636) to Malaysia to build a 1200 tons/day photovoltaic high permeability substrate three-line project; Deye (SH:605117) plans to set up a photovoltaic equipment and energy storage battery production base in Malaysia; GoodWe (SH: 688390) established its first overseas inverter factory in Vietnam; Xiuqiang Co., Ltd. (SZ: 300160) plans to invest in the construction of glass production lines in Thailand.

Is it a bit "cool" to build factories in Europe and the United States?

Compared with emerging markets, the traditional European and American markets have become popular areas for the construction of factories in the photovoltaic industry last year due to their advantages of large scale and high gross profit margins, but this year, the fever of building factories in Europe and the United States has cooled down significantly.

Previously, under the influence of the fever of building factories in the United States, many companies in the industry once expressed their intention to build factories in Europe. However, in 2024, there are only two domestic photovoltaic companies that have announced the construction of factories in Europe, Yiyi Xinneng and Noelson Solar.

A new energy is the leader of cells, but Innosun is just a small enterprise. Yiyi Xinneng plans to build a 3GW solar panel factory in France, with a total investment of 109 million euros (equivalent to 825 million yuan).

Innosolar plans to invest 30 million euros (230 million yuan) to build a 1GW cell module factory in Serbia.

There are not only few people who go to the United States to build factories, but also most of them are marginal enterprises - either auxiliary material companies, such as Haiyou New Materials (SH: 688680), which is mainly engaged in adhesive film, or equipment companies, such as Jinchen Co., Ltd. (SH: 603396), whose business scope in the United States is photovoltaic module equipment after-sales installation and commissioning, equipment maintenance services, etc., and those who go to the United States to build factories in the main industrial chain are micro-nano optoelectronics that do perovskite. Moreover, the scale of investment in these projects is also small, and the higher ones are not more than 10 million US dollars.

The number of enterprises is small, the number is small, the scale and amount of investment are not large, and the cooling of factories in Europe and the United States is mainly related to the policies of the United States and the European Union.

This year, the United States announced the implementation of "double reversal" on photovoltaic products in four Southeast Asian countries, and Trump, who is inclined to traditional energy, entered the White House, which made the future of building factories in the United States a little more uncertain (see the previous report "How will Trump, who enters the White House and gives it a go, impact China's new energy development?"). 》）。 At present, the high labor costs in the United States have made local companies dependent on subsidies for their profits. If Trump removes IRA subsidies, these PV companies will be in danger of losing money.

The situation in Europe is similar to that of the United States, on the one hand, intensive policies have been introduced to fully support the construction of the upstream and downstream industrial chain of local photovoltaics, on the other hand, the voices of suppressing China's photovoltaic continue to be suppressed, and risks such as policy uncertainty and high labor costs have made Chinese companies shy away from building factories here.

At present, the serious involution situation in China is promoting Chinese photovoltaic companies to survive overseas, and the diversification of overseas factory locations is also conducive to diversifying policy risks. However, in order to avoid spillover and avoid being targeted, the core is to achieve differentiation of technology and products, aim at market segments to innovate, and enhance core competitiveness in order to make the road to sea more stable.

(Please indicate the source for reprinting, article source: Huaxia Energy Network, WeChat ID: hxny3060).

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