In July 2024, prices in the photovoltaic industry chain continued to be sluggish, project delays and terminations occurred frequently, and involution competition continued to escalate. Enthusiasm for the signing, construction and commissioning of photovoltaic projects has cooled down in July. The domestic photovoltaic market has reached a new height, and Chinese photovoltaic companies have gone overseas to seek new growth points in the Middle East.
Contract-signing/planning project
According to TrendForce’s statistics, there are 13 photovoltaic contracted or planned projects in July 2024. Among them, the scale of silicon wafer link is 20GW, that of cell link is about 35.5GW, and that of module link is 29.2GW.
In the silicon wafer sector, only TCL Zhonghuan announced its expansion plan in July. On July 16, TCL Zhonghuan announced that it had reached a shareholder agreement with RELC and Vision Industries and plans to establish a joint venture company to build a silicon wafer project with an annual output of 20GW in Saudi Arabia.
In the cell sector, seven projects were signed in July, and Chinese PV companies accelerated the construction of factories in the Middle East. On July 3, led by Huaneng and a number of leading enterprises such as Hengxi, the 2GW photovoltaic cell and 3.2GW module project was signed in Lianyungang. On July 6, the signing ceremony of Guangdong Hongjun New Energy's HJT cell and module project was held in Qidong, Jiangsu with 4GW capacity. In addition, the company also plans to build a perovskite cell pilot base. On July 16, LONGi announced that it plans to invest in the construction of LONGi Green Energy Photovoltaic ( Xixian New Area) Phase I with the high-efficiency BC cell annual production of 12.5GW. The project is expected to start production at the end of 2024 and all of them will be put into operation in June 2025. on July 16, JinkoSolar announced the establishment of a joint venture company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to build a 10GW high-efficiency cell and module project. On July 25, Drinda announced that it intends to invest in the construction of a 5GW high-efficiency battery production base in the Sohar Free Trade Zone of the Sultanate of Oman, which is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2025. Q-Sun and Oman's new energy enterprise Bakarat announced the construction of an 8GW advanced PV module and 2GW PV cell production base in the Sohar Free Trade Zone in Oman. From the perspective of technical routes, the technical routes of the expansion project are diversified, including TOPCon, HJT, XBC and perovskites, among which N-type production capacity occupies an absolute advantage.
In terms of modules, 5 projects were signed in July, with a total capacity of 29.2GW. On July 3, the construction project of 2GW photovoltaic module with an annual output of Yiji Energy was signed in Enshi High-tech Zone. On the same day, led by Huaneng and a number of leading enterprises such as Hengxi, the 2GW photovoltaic cell and 3.2GW module project was signed in Lianyungang. On July 6, Guangdong Hongjun New Energy, Jiangsu Qidong module contracted a contract scale of 6GW. In addition, JinkoSolar and Q-Sun are also actively deploying production capacity in the Middle East. Among them, JinkoSolar plans to build a 10GW high-efficiency cell and module project in Saudi Arabia, and Q-Sun plans to build 8GW modules in Oman, and the products will cover TOPCON and HJT technology routes. Among the module signing projects in July, except for Yiji Energy, which did not disclose the technical route, the other projects all adopted the N-type technical route.
Chart: Contract-signing projects in July 2024
Start-up projects
According to incomplete statistics from TrendForce, 6 PV projects started construction in July 2024, of which 16 GW were started in the wafer sector, 21 GW were in cell, and 15 GW were in module.
In the silicon wafer sector, only Huasun started construction in July, with the capacity of 16GW. On July 2, the Xuancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone Huasun high-efficiency heterojunction whole industry chain project started, which consists of five sub-projects, including 8GW silicon wafer in the first phase, 8GW cell in the second phase, 8GW module the third phase, 8GW silicon wafer in the fourth phase, and 8GW cell in the fifth phase.
In the cell sector, 21GW of construction started in July, all of which adopted the HJT technology route. Among them, Huasun’s project has the largest scale, reaching 16GW. In addition, Fengtai County Qianjing Yuanlong high-efficiency heterojunction cell project with the annual output of 5GW started on July 2, which is divided into two phases of construction, 3GW in the first phase and 2GW in the second phase.
In terms of modules, there are three projects that started construction in July. Specifically, on July 2, Huasun's Anhui Xuancheng heterojunction whole industry chain project started , of which the module scale is 8GW. On July 3, JA Solar's 5GW PV module project in Bayannaoer, Mongolia started. On July 26, Bazhou Hongsheng New Energy Photovoltaic Module Project was held in Yanqi Industrial Park, Xinjiang.
Chart: Start-up projects in July 2024
Commissioning projects
According to incomplete statistics from TrendForce, there are three PV projects in production in July 2024, of which 13.2 GW of cells and 10 GW of modules will be put into production.
In the cell sector, two projects were put into operation in July. On July 6, the commissioning ceremony of 12GW n TOPCon cell of CHG was held in Tongcheng and on July 9, Shanghai Electric Hengxi PV's first heterojunction photovoltaic cell rolled off the production line.
In the module sector, only one new energy company was put into production in July. On July 13, the commissioning ceremony of a 10GW high-efficiency module project of Das Solar Jingshan Base was held in Beijingshan, Hubei.
Chart: Commissioning projects in July 2024
Other projects
In the cell sector, on July 1, CNBM's 2GW HJT cell was publicized for technical transformation. On July 4, the draft of the EIA of the BOE high-efficiency perovskite thin film solar cell pilot line project was announced. On July 10, the EIA of the 10GW high-efficiency heterojunction (HDT) cell project (phase I 5GW) in Leshan High-tech Zone of Shuoyang New Energy was accepted and announced.
On July 22, the environmental impact assessment information of Shaanxi LONGi Solar's second phase with an annual output of 3GW high-efficiency BC cell project (an announcement).
In terms of modules, on July 18, Macro Solar released the pre-approval announcement of the 5G intelligent factory construction project with an annual output of 1,000 MW high-efficiency solar photovoltaic modules. On July 22, the EIA of GCL's GW-level perovskite photovoltaic module production project (phase I) was approved. On July 24, Yuncheng Green Energy's annual output of 3GW high-efficiency solar cell module project was announced before the EIA approval and on July 26, Trina Solar's 11GW PV module project was approved for energy conservation.
In the cell module sector, on July 16, the EIA of the construction project of UtimoLight's annual output of 1GW perovskite solar cell modules and innovation center was approved.
Chart: Other porjects in July, 2024
On the whole, in July 2024, the price of the photovoltaic industry chain remained low, and the pace of signing, start-up, and production slowed down. The technical route of the expansion project is diversified, and the N-type technology occupies an absolute advantage. The domestic photovoltaic market is involuted and superimposed on overseas trade cells, and the localized production capacity support policies have increased. It has become the general trend for Chinese photovoltaic enterprises to "go overseas with production capacity", and the resource endowment in the Middle East and the huge potential of the photovoltaic market have been superimposed on the support of local energy policies, which has brought new opportunities for Chinese enterprises to go overseas.