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• Date:2023-02-22

(Summary description)　　China has developed a comprehensive crystalline silicon photovoltaic industry over the past 20 years, becoming the most suitable place for companies to apply for solar patents, according to executives in the industry. 　　“China has formed a complete PV industry ecology from upstream to downstream, including various ancillary industries, promoting the development of new technologies with lower cost,” Song Dengyuan, chief technology officer of Chinese PV module maker Das Solar. “No other country is at the same level.” 　　Last year, China’s market share in all parts of the global PV industry exceeded 80 percent, with that of silicon wafers at 97 percent, said Song, who also heads the battery and panels division of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. 　　“Overseas competitors don’t stand a chance and often quit for lack of motivation,” Song added. Even if foreign solar companies could develop new technologies, it is unlikely for them to be able to make up for lost market share, he noted. 　　China is adept at industrializing PV technologies. For example, China makes the N-type tunnel oxide passivated contact, or TOPCon, solar cell, which was commercialized from a concept. Also, the perovskite solar cell patent, which had long been registered by Japanese firms and had expired when brought to China, has been developing rapidly in the country, Song said, adding that PV tech can be developed better in China than the United States and Japan. 　　The production efficiency and automation degree of Chinese solar firms are also improving. A PV module production line with an annual capacity of 500 megawatts needed at least 700 workers in 2011, but a 750 MW line only needs 70 workers now, said Wang Xiang, deputy general manager of solar panel maker GCL System Integration Technology. 　　Chinese solar firms have achieved breakthroughs with respect to the efficiency of new battery types. The battery efficiency of leading firms GCL and Jinko Solar exceeded 25 percent, Song pointed out. The average is usually around 17 percent. 　　Swift efficiency improvements, a fully competitive market, and a complete industry ecology are the three factors that are driving China’s solar industry through a new technology transition. GCL, Jinko Solar, and PV module supplier Jinneng Clean Energy Technology are embracing new-generation technologies. 　　GCL is building a Topcon solar cell plant with an annual capacity of 20 gigawatts in Wuhu, Anhui province, to meet the demand from its panel production base in Hefei. 　　Jinneng Clean Energy is pushing forward with the mass production of heterojunction technology solar cells, those made with a combination of crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon to produce high-power, high-efficiency hybrid cells. 　　“We are also investing in technologies combining HJT with perovskite, but it will take time to develop them,” said Yang Liyou, the firm’s general manager.