Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

In the past 2022, China's export of new energy products increased significantly, especially the performance of photovoltaic products. According to customs data, in the first 11 months of 2022, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products, especially new energy products, grew rapidly, with the export of solar cells increasing by 74.3% year-on-year.

While the overseas demand for photovoltaic products is strong, China's domestic capacity is rapidly expanding, and the global development of photovoltaic energy is also increasing. While the industry is flying in the wind, the changing factors are also increasing. To improve global competitiveness, photovoltaic enterprises need to plan for layout in advance.

Multi-factor heating PV export

Entering the production workshop of Trina Solar (Suqian) Technology Co., Ltd., the automatic production line runs at full load. During the waving of the robot arm, on average, a piece of solar photovoltaic cell that has gone through nine processes is finished offline every 0.98 seconds, and will be sent to Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and other countries and regions. It is understood that the company has established a "super factory" of crystalline silicon photovoltaic with four areas. In 2022, the company's products will be exported to more than 110 countries and regions, and the output value is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan.

This is a miniature of the hot scene of PV export. In 2022, the global energy crisis caused a sharp increase in the demand for photovoltaic products in overseas markets, and the performance of related products was relatively outstanding.

On December 1, Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, introduced at the 2022 China Photovoltaic Industry Annual Conference that from January to October, the total export of photovoltaic products (silicon wafers, cells and modules) exceeded 44 billion US dollars, up 90.3% year on year, a record high. Among them, the demand for PV in the European market continues to rise, and the share of module exports to the European market has exceeded half of the total module exports; In the South American market, Brazil also shows strong demand for PV.

According to customs data, in the first 11 months of 2022, the export of mechanical and electrical products reached 12.47 trillion yuan, up 8.4% year on year; According to customs data, the export of electric passenger cars, lithium batteries and solar cells increased by 128%, 86.6% and 74.3% respectively.

Wang Jianhui, a senior researcher in industrial economy, said that the crisis in Ukraine has exacerbated the global energy and food crisis. After entering the winter, the contradiction between energy supply and demand has become more prominent. The price of natural gas in many places in Europe has reached new highs, creating a strong demand for new alternative energy. In addition, the imbalance of global energy structure and the accelerated promotion of "double carbon" have also boosted the demand for new energy, which is expected to continue.

When looking forward to the global photovoltaic industry in 2023, CICC also believed that the prosperity of the global photovoltaic sector will continue. It is expected that the global installed capacity will increase by 50% in 2022, and it is expected to continue to increase by 30%~50% in 2023 and close to the upper end of the range.

Yan Min, director of the Macroeconomic Research Office of the Economic Prediction Department of the National Information Center, believes that the export of lithium batteries, solar cells and other mechanical and electrical products has increased significantly, which not only shows the international competitiveness of China's relevant products, but also reflects that China's export structure is moving towards the middle and high end, which is conducive to the optimization of the trade structure, thus promoting the upgrading of the industrial structure.

According to customs data, in the first 11 months of 2022, the efficiency of China's photovoltaic crystal silicon battery laboratory broke the world record 11 times. As of November, 87 photovoltaic enterprises have been awarded the title of "specialized and innovative", mainly distributed in the fields of battery cells, inverters, junction boxes, equipment manufacturers, photovoltaic glass, EVA, packaging materials, etc.

Technical innovation is more needed to break through the competition

"The biggest challenge we are facing is the increasingly fierce competition." In view of the development trend of China's photovoltaic industry, Wang Bohua said that photovoltaic enterprises will face competition pressure from both domestic and foreign sources: on the one hand, the domestic photovoltaic industry shows continuous expansion and cross-border phenomenon, and on the other hand, the competition between major countries in the photovoltaic manufacturing end, which requires the attention of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises.

The strong market demand drives the strong growth of the manufacturing end of photovoltaic products. According to customs data, from January to October, China's new PV installed capacity increased by 98.7% year on year, setting a record for the new installed capacity of the year. According to incomplete statistics, from the beginning of last year to November of this year, there were more than 480 planned PV projects in China, some of which were constructed by stages. In the future, they will be launched according to market changes. In addition, according to incomplete statistics, more than 25 non-photovoltaic listed companies have successively announced their involvement in the field of photovoltaic, with an estimated total investment of more than 100 billion yuan.

In terms of the spatial layout of the domestic photovoltaic industry, Qian Jing, vice president of Jingke Energy, believes that the manufacturing industry was previously concentrated in the southeast coastal areas with intensive talents and sufficient funds, and may move to the west in the future. "Most of the production bases will be in the northwest and southwest regions, which will bring great changes to the unbalanced situation of China's economic development."

At the same time, under the background of the global energy problem and the accelerated promotion of "double carbon", the overseas market attaches more importance to the local photovoltaic industry, which also makes the competition more intense. Wang Bohua said that the scale of China's photovoltaic industry continued to rank first in the world, but it also faced some challenges. In particular, some countries and regions have raised the development of new energy manufacturing to the government level, with objectives, measures and steps. "The United States, the European Union and India, for example, not only support local enterprises, but also restrict the development of other domestic industries. This should arouse our close attention and make greater efforts in technological innovation."

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in terms of photovoltaic development, China has the advantages of low cost, strong technological innovation and large industrial and market scale. In the face of a more competitive environment, it is necessary to ensure the orderly development of the domestic industry, and at the same time, it is also necessary to accelerate the "going out" to further enhance the global competitiveness of photovoltaic enterprises.

How should Chinese PV enterprises continue to maintain competitiveness and leadership and lead the development of the global PV industry? Recently, Gao Jifan, chairman of Trina Solar, said at the 2022 Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Shanghai Summit that a more comprehensive and open cooperation is the key. We need to constantly develop higher value products, provide better solutions, and work with global partners to build a new ecosystem of photovoltaic industry.