Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

As the TCL middle ring reduces the thickness of the N-type silicon wafer to 110 μ m. Heterojunction battery (HJT) manufacturers, which were once constrained by costs, are stepping up efforts to apply ultra-thin silicon wafers. From the perspective of multiple manufacturers, 100 μ M silicon wafers will enter the mass production phase of application as soon as this year.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, recently, Zhou Dan, CEO of Huasheng New Energy, publicly stated that the company has made significant progress in the development of ultra-thin heterojunction silicon wafers, and the company uses 130 μ M silicon wafer, the yield has exceeded 95.5%; one hundred and ten μ M and 120 μ The mass production process for M silicon wafers has been finalized, with a yield of over 95%; Extreme 100 μ The mass production process for M silicon wafers is also being tested.

On March 13, Wujiang Jingang, a subsidiary of Jingang Photovoltaics, signed a "Solar Cell Purchase and Sales Contract" with Shandong Quanwei. According to the contract, Wujiang Jingang will sell 180MW high-efficiency heterojunction solar cells to Shandong Quanwei.

In fact, in a survey conducted in February this year, King Kong Photovoltaic also talked about the planning of silicon wafer thickness. The company said that the Wujiang production line has now been fully used 130 μ M silicon wafer with application 120 μ The capacity of mass production of m silicon wafers is planned to be directly imported by Jiuquan Project Company μ Mass production of M silicon wafers, Huacheng import and export data observation report.

King Kong Photovoltaic also stated that in the future, when there is no problem with the supply of silicon wafers and customers can accept thinner silicon wafers, the company will introduce thinner silicon wafers, and the future goal is to achieve 100% μ M Silicon wafer applications. The reporter noted that the controlling shareholder of Jingang Photovoltaics, Ouhao Group, was more clear when releasing the above order information, and it is expected to decrease to 100 by the end of the year μ m。

In addition, in January of this year, Dongfang Risheng reached a strategic cooperation relationship with Gaodian Co., Ltd. in the field of N-type heterojunction ultrathin wafer slicing. According to the investigation conducted by Dongfang Risheng in February, currently, the thickness of silicon wafers mainly used in the company's heterojunction pilot line is 100-110 μ m. In the laboratory, the company has been testing and using 100 μ Silicon wafers with a thickness of less than m.

The main reason why heterojunction battery manufacturers are so obsessed with silicon wafer thinning is their desire to reduce silicon costs. Data released by TCL Central shows that 10 μ The thickness of m seems insignificant, but its role in the photovoltaic industry is crucial. Every 10% reduction in silicon wafer thickness μ m. The cost of silicon wafers can be reduced by about 5%.

In fact, in the past two years, the price of photovoltaic industry has been high, and the thinning of silicon wafers is also the main theme. Among them, P-type silicon wafers have increased from 175 μ M thinned to 150 μ m. N-type silicon wafers have also been priced from 150 μ M thinned to 110 μ m。 In addition to the driving factor of cost reduction, silicon wafer thinning actually meets the inherent needs of N-type technology, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

Soochow Securities stated that it is expected to further reduce the selling price of N-type silicon wafers and promote the industrialization process of HJT after full competition is formed with the scale of N-type silicon wafers in the future. The organization believes that thinning is a unique cost reduction option for HJT. HJT uses low-temperature processes and plate type coating equipment, combined with chain type gettering and other processes. Currently, the thickness of silicon wafers is significantly thinner than that of PERC and TOPCon, and has greater thinning potential. Specifically, the theoretical limit for PERC silicon wafers is 150 μ m. TOPCon is 130 μ m. HJT mass production sheet thickness gradually switches to 120 μ m. The theoretical limit is 80 μ m。

Previously, the industrialization of TOPcon batteries, which are both N-type technologies, has accelerated, and the top four component manufacturers in the industry have identified strategies for developing TOPcon at this stage. The slightly slow industrialization process of HJT is mainly due to cost factors. Of course, reducing the cost of compressing silicon through silicon wafer thinning is only one aspect, and on the other hand, it also depends on the pressure drop of non silicon costs.

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, on March 14th, the Huasheng Xuancheng Phase III 2.4GW double-sided microcrystalline heterojunction battery project successfully completed the entire line, and completed the production of the first batch of 182 batteries, with a maximum conversion efficiency exceeding 25%; The company stated that the introduction of the i-HJT3.0 process in Huasheng Phase III is expected to rapidly increase the average efficiency of mass production of the company's 182 heterojunction battery cells to 25.5%.

In the research, Diamond Photovoltaic stated that the company has completed the verification of silver clad copper products and has the capacity to produce in mass, and the use of silver clad copper has a very small impact on the efficiency of the battery. After the verification is completed and agreed by downstream customers, the company will introduce in mass production. Currently, the company has verified that the silver clad copper ratio is 50:50, and continuing to reduce the silver content has limited impact on cost reduction. Further reducing silver requires seeking other technical routes, such as copper electroplating. In addition, the introduction of double-sided microcrystalline technology, reduction of silver paste unit consumption, and improvement of screen life are also being adopted to reduce costs in Diamond Photovoltaics.

According to the judgment of Tianfeng Securities, the preconditions for HJT's large-scale commercialization include three points: one is that it is about 1% more efficient than TOPCon, the other is that costs are about to be flattened, and the third is that the relevant supply chain is mature and stable. The agency believes that after the price of silicon material falls this year, it is important to focus on the slurry cost. By the end of this year, the cost of HJT single W battery chips is expected to be 0.03 yuan higher than that of TOPCON, and by the end of next year, it is expected to be 0.02 yuan higher or flat, mainly depending on the cost of the target material. In addition, the expansion scale of the HJT industry is expected to be 50-60GW this year, and the expansion scale of the HJT industry is expected to reach 90-100GW next year. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reports.