Top 10 Big Brothers in PV Industry

Throughout the photovoltaic industry chain, the "elder brother" in each link has attracted much attention. They are the technical benchmark of the subdivided industry and also the star enterprises in the photovoltaic industry. This paper specifically sorted out the TOP ten enterprises in the links. It should be emphasized that the ranking also varies with the data of participating in the evaluation. The ranking in this paper is for reference only.

1. Silicon Material -- Yongxiang Shares

In the past ten years, the silicon dynasty has changed several times. In 2013, Jiangsu Zhongneng, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly (now renamed GCL-Tech), surpassed Wacker of Germany to become the "first brother". Its annual polysilicon production capacity reached 65,000 tons, and it ranked first for many years thereafter.

At the beginning of 2018, changes began to emerge. The polysilicon production capacity of Yongxiang Shares under Tongwei Group soared from 20,000 tons in 2017 to 80,000 tons by the end of 2018, surpassing the 70,000 tons of Jiangsu CNG. However, GCL still held the top position when combined with the 60,000 tons of Xinjiang GCL put into production. However, in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 31.5% stake in Xinjiang GCL was traded.

In 2020, GCL started the transformation from rod-shaped polysilicon to granular silicon. The capacity of rod-shaped polysilicon in Jiangsu base was reduced from 70,000 tons to 36,000 tons, and the capacity of granular silicon was increased to 10,000 tons by the end of the year. Tongwei is accelerating in an all-round way. Based on the capacity of 80,000 tons of polysilicon at the end of 2020, Tongwei strives to reach the capacity of 11.5~15 tons, 150,000 ~ 220,000 tons and 220,000 ~ 290,000 tons of polysilicon in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.

At present, whether capacity or output, Yongxiang shares are sitting firmly "a elder brother". By the end of 2021, Yongxiang's polycrystalline silicon production capacity has reached 180,000 tons, and the total production capacity of projects under construction is 170,000 tons. Among them, Baotou Phase II project of 50,000 tons is expected to be put into operation in 2022, Leshan Phase III project of 120,000 tons is expected to be put into operation in 2023, when the capacity scale will reach 350,000 tons, far exceeding the previous three-year plan.

GCL, of course, continues to bet on granular silicon, and the latest figures show that GCL has a total operating capacity of 100,000 tons of granular silicon.

2. Silicon Wafer -- Longji & Zhonghuan

In the long history of global silicon wafer, "GCL Kingdom" also dominated for many years. However, with the breakthrough of single crystal price performance, Longji Green can take the "baton", CMC shares followed, single crystal "double male" pattern since then.

By the end of 2021, Longi's monocrcrystalline silicon wafer production capacity has reached 105GW, which is also the first silicon wafer enterprise with production capacity exceeding 100. The target production capacity is 150GW in 2022.

The capacity gap between Zhonghuan and Longi will reach 30GW at most in 2020. But at the same time, CMC has made two "killer apps". One is the release of G12 (210mm) super-sized silicon wafer in 2019, which once again opens up the dispute over the size of silicon wafer. Second, after the end of the mixed-ownership reform in 2020, TCL Corporation will take over and Central District will be transformed from a state-owned enterprise to a private one. At this point, Central open capacity "acceleration".

In February 2021, CMC announced the construction of a 50GW (G12) solar level monocrystalline silicon material smart factory and related supporting industries in Yinchuan, Ningxia. The project started in March 2021 and is expected to start production by the end of this year.

In May 2022, CMC adjusted the fundraising project again. The remaining funds originally planned to be invested in the "Production line Project of 8-12 inch semiconductor silicon wafers for integrated circuits" were all used for the construction of the "DW Phase IV Project", and the annual production capacity of 30GW solar photovoltaic silicon wafers (G12) was increased.

According to CMC disclosure, the silicon wafer production capacity is expected to reach 140GW in 2022, catching up with Lungi.

3. Battery sheet -- Tongwei Solar

Holding the silicon "elder brother", Tongwei shares also have another big killer -- solar cells, which is operated by Tongwei Solar.

In 2016, in the ranking of professional solar cell manufacturers by third-party institutions, Tongwei Solar jumped to the first place with 3.4GW. In 2018, Tongwei Solar has taken over the baton from the vertical integration of large factories, and become the world's largest solar cell supplier, and "keep the promise" until now.

4. Component -- Longi leaf

As the terminal presentation of photovoltaic technology, photovoltaic modules have attracted much attention, and the leading module is highly competitive. Based on shipment volume, components alternate frequently. In 2020, after the silicon wafer, Longi Green Energy's battery module fleet Longi Leye successfully won the component crown, becoming the "double" champion of silicon wafer and component.

In the first three quarters of this year, Longi continued to boast success with more than 30GW of component shipments.

It is worth noting that Longi has just launched HPBC component new products, in the industry N type boom, Longi new technology can be another new path is worth looking forward to.

5. Glass -- Xinyi Light Energy & Follett

As the packaging material of photovoltaic module, the strength and transmittance of photovoltaic glass directly determine the life and power generation efficiency of photovoltaic module.

Before 2006, the photovoltaic glass market was basically monopolized by four foreign companies: France Saint-Gobain, Britain Pilkington (later acquired by sheet glass), Japan Asahi Glass and Japan sheet Glass, and the import price was as high as 80 yuan/square meter or more. After 2016, domestic photovoltaic glass began to replace imports, and became the world's largest producer of photovoltaic glass.

Photovoltaic glass manufacturers, Xinyi Light Energy and Follette, two major manufacturers of the market share of more than 50%, photovoltaic glass "double hegemony" pattern has been stable for many years. As of June 30, 2022, Xinyi Solar and Follett's photovoltaic glass production capacity was 16,800 tons per day and 15,800 tons per day, respectively.

6. Adhesive film -- Foster

Photovoltaic film is a key packaging material of photovoltaic modules, plays a role in packaging and protection of solar cell modules, can improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency of modules, and extend the service life of modules.

According to the type of technology, photovoltaic film mainly includes EVA film and POE film, wherein the former contains white EVA film and transparent EVA film, and the latter contains pure POE film and co-extruded POE film. At present, the mainstream of the market is still EVA film, but with the large-scale production of N-type technology, the demand for POE film with excellent water resistance and PID resistance is gradually rising.

Consistent with photovoltaic glass, the market share of photovoltaic film leading enterprises is more than 50%. But with the photovoltaic glass "double hegemony" pattern is different, more than 50% of the photovoltaic film market share by a Foster alone.

In 2021, Foster's photovoltaic film sales volume reached 967,7984 square meters, an increase of 158% compared with 2015.

Other mainstream film enterprises also include Swecker, Saiwu Technology, Parknage, Xiangbang technology and so on.

7. Backboard -- Chinese shares

The "three musketeers" of photovoltaic backpanels -- Sewu Technology, China Lai Stock and Mingguan New Materials -- will account for more than 60% of the global market in 2020.

In 2021, the sales volume of Zhonglai backboard reached 167,859,400 square meters, surpassing that of Sewu Technology 131,206,700 square meters, becoming the new leader of backboard.

According to the financial disclosure, the company focuses on double-sided coated backboards, whose shipments account for more than 63% of the total annual shipments in 2021. By the end of 2021, Zhonglai has an annual production capacity of over 170 million square meters, which can support nearly 40GW of components. In addition, Zhonglai Shares also layout N-type TOPCon high-efficiency battery modules and household distributed photovoltaic development business.

8. Inverter -- Sunlight Power Supply & Huawei

Pv inverter "rivers and lakes", because the shipment data is not fully open, so the ranking is more controversial, but the undoubted super first-line enterprises are not Sunshine power and Huawei, both of the global market share of more than 20%, leading by a large margin.

According to the official information, in 1998, the photovoltaic inverter independently developed by Solar Power Supply was first applied to the railway in southern Xinjiang. In 1999, the first sinusoidal inverter for power system was developed in China. In 2003, the first photovoltaic inverter with independent intellectual property rights was connected to the grid for power generation in China. As of June 30, 2022, Solar Power has accumulated more than 269GW of installed inverter equipment in the global market.

Huawei entered the photovoltaic inverter for only about ten years, holding high the banner of cluster inverter, not only completely rewritten the pattern of the photovoltaic inverter market, but also led the concept innovation of the inverter market with its advocacy of digitalization and intelligence.

9. Tracking bracket -- Zhongxinbo

Module, inverter, bracket, photovoltaic power station "three big". As the important "skeleton" of the photovoltaic power station, the bracket has supported the safe operation and revenue of the power station for 25 years.

The tracking bracket is widely recognized for the gain of photovoltaic power generation, but in the domestic market, the cost performance and reliability are still to be broken. In the global tracking bracket ranking, Zhongxinbo ranks top. Financial data show that in 2021, Zhongxinbo photovoltaic bracket shipments are about 6.51GW, including domestic shipments of 4.94GW and overseas shipments of 1.57GW. According to the type of technology, the shipment of tracking bracket is about 2.33GW and that of fixed bracket is 4.18GW.

In addition, the domestic leading tracking stent enterprises also include TRW Tracking, Hengsheng Technology, Jiangsu Guoqiang and so on.

10. Photovoltaic power station investor -- State Power Investment & Chint New Energy

By the end of September this year, China Power Investment, the world's largest photovoltaic power generation enterprise, had installed more than 45GW of photovoltaic power, stable in the global "giant" of photovoltaic power. From 2019 to 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations increased by 113 percent.

The "elder brother" of private photovoltaic power stations is Chint New Energy. By the end of September, Chint's domestic PV power plant scale increased to 11.1GW, which is also the first private enterprise with a power plant scale of more than 10GW. In the scale of photovoltaic power station exceeding 11GW, distributed photovoltaic power station exceeding 10GW, including small industrial and commercial distributed power station 1.12GW, household photovoltaic 9.03GW.