Photovoltaic glass industry: capacity shortage and capacity replacement policy are not directly related

Release Date: 2020/12/03 Views: 530

On November 22, 2020, a symposium on the situation of the photovoltaic glass industry was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu. The conference was hosted by China Building Glass and Industrial Glass Association and jointly hosted by Xinyi Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. and Flat Glass Group Co., Ltd. Participating in the meeting were the president of China Building Glass and Industrial Glass Association Zhang Baiheng, the vice presidents Ruan Hongliang and Lin Jinxi, the CEO of Xinyi Solar Holding Co., Ltd. Li Youqing and other photovoltaic glass business leaders and media representatives, and a total of 48 people. The meeting was presided over by Zhou Zhiwu, Secretary General of China Building Glass and Industrial Glass Association.

Since entering the second half of this year, photovoltaic glass has been selling well, and production capacity supply has gradually become tight. In order to ensure the development needs of the photovoltaic industry and promote the healthy and sustainable development of photovoltaic glass, the association has recently conducted in-depth research in the industry, issued a survey letter, and communicated with leading enterprises to understand the situation of the industry, and put forward the “About Relieving the Contradiction between Supply and Demand of Photovoltaic Glass and Promoting the Health of Photovoltaic Glass” “Suggestions for Sustainable Development” and reported to relevant government departments. In order to stabilize the market in the near future, ensure the supply of photovoltaic glass, realize the healthy and orderly development of the photovoltaic glass industry in the medium and long term, and prevent the formation of new overcapacity, the association organized this meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Zhang Baiheng gave a speech first. He pointed out that “With the development of the photovoltaic industry, photovoltaic glass and other new energy materials have great development potential. The current gap in photovoltaic glass production capacity is caused by a variety of factors. According to the past supply and demand of photovoltaic glass and the statistical analysis of the supply side of photovoltaic glass production capacity, the current The shortage of photovoltaic glass supply is a special situation in a special period, and it is a temporary shortage.” Regarding how to release production capacity in an orderly manner, Chairman Zhang Baiheng put forward the “two-step” thesis: “The first step is to make reasonable compliance First of all, it is possible to open up production lines that comply with the policy to complete the filing and encourage technological innovation. Encourage to stop production cold repair production lines for in-situ technological transformation, and to improve the capacity and level of ultra-white rolled glass production lines. In addition, encourage existing float glass production lines. The glass production line will be converted to ultra-white rolled glass through technological transformation. Support the existing float glass production line and produce photovoltaic backplane glass through technological transformation. It is strictly forbidden to build a new float glass production line under the name of photovoltaic glass to prevent the formation of new overcapacity. If None of these can meet the needs of the photovoltaic industry. We will consider the second step, which is to adopt incremental replacement methods based on the filing time and construction conditions to gradually release production capacity.”

Chairman Zhang Baiheng emphasized that the photovoltaic glass industry must follow the laws of market and industrial development, implement the requirements of industrial policies, and strengthen innovation-driven development. We must adhere to the principle of quality and efficiency as the center, deepen the improvement of quality and efficiency, promote standardized operations, and adhere to high-quality and high-quality development. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen statistics and standard formulation work, communicate and coordinate with module companies, and establish a unified standard size for the photovoltaic glass industry, which can effectively reduce the production cost of photovoltaic glass, improve product quality, drive the improvement of production efficiency, and ultimately promote the price fall. Photovoltaic glass is urgent.

Delegates at the conference carefully analyzed the reasons for the gap in photovoltaic glass production capacity: first, the epidemic caused some photovoltaic glass production capacity to be cold repaired in advance; second, the photovoltaic glass production line project under construction was affected by the epidemic and delayed ignition; third, the penetration rate of double-sided double glass modules was high More than expected growth of photovoltaic glass caused by the increase. It can be seen that there is no direct connection between the shortage of photovoltaic glass production capacity and the “Operational Answers to the Implementation Measures for Capacity Replacement in the Cement Glass Industry” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

According to the research situation of the association, the total production capacity of photovoltaic glass enterprises under construction and planned projects is 81,500t/d, and 34 kilns are under construction with production capacity of 34820t/d. Among them, 24100t/d production capacity can be put into production in 2021. After it is put into operation, the total supply capacity of photovoltaic glass will reach 52,400t/d, and the output of photovoltaic glass will fully meet market demand by then. Participants believed that the capacity of photovoltaic glass can be managed separately, and the new capacity of photovoltaic glass can be appropriately released to keep up with the growing demand for new photovoltaic installations in the future. However, production capacity cannot be fully liberalized and must be released in an orderly manner.

Participants hope to open up the upstream and downstream of the photovoltaic industry chain, connect with component companies, and understand the development plans of component companies and the entire photovoltaic industry. In this way, the capacity gap in the module industry is measured and matched with just suitable or slightly surplus photovoltaic glass capacity. The coordination with component companies should be strengthened to make it run smoothly and achieve the goal of stable, sustained and healthy development of the entire photovoltaic industry towards high quality.

The meeting focused on the issue of glass standard specifications. The increasingly diversified sizes of photovoltaic modules not only lead to low supply chain matching, but also increase a lot of direct costs and hidden costs. Glass manufacturers need to stock a variety of specifications of glass. These glasses cannot be used in different component factories, which brings great troubles to glass processing enterprises and affects the supply capacity and timeliness of glass. Organizations should organize the formulation of the “Standard Dimensions of Glass for Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules” group standards to establish a unified standard size for the photovoltaic glass industry.

The meeting called for the implementation of the “six stability and six guarantees” policy requirements, and go all out to ensure the supply of photovoltaic glass. It is necessary to conscientiously implement the policy requirements of the Party Central Committee’s supply-side structural reforms and high-quality development, unswervingly improve quality and efficiency, make enterprises better, strengthen the industry, and maintain a fair, just, open, healthy and orderly industry Development order. Resolutely oppose and stop price manipulation and monopoly prices, and resist low-price dumping and illegal unfair and vicious competition. Standardize the development order of the industry to avoid disorderly expansion and strengthen the synergy between the upstream and downstream industry chains, so as to achieve the goal of stable, sustained and healthy development of the industry chain towards high quality.