In 2022, the trend of photovoltaic polymer materials

In the context of material shortages and rising prices, backplane and encapsulation materials for component manufacturing are becoming increasingly important. The EVA film, which originally competed with polyolefin (POE) adhesive film with a price advantage, was once more expensive than polyolefin film in 2021.

How will the PV packaging materials and backplane market develop in 2022? Recently, Li Xinjun, a material expert at Saiwu Technology, talked about Saiwu's views on the market trend of photovoltaic polymer materials in 2022.

1. About the backplane

The biggest challenge for the backplane industry in 2021 is the price of PVDF, which has almost doubled. The price increase is mainly due to a shortage of resin for PVDF production, and the need to use PVDF coatings for lithium-ion batteries due to increased demand for electric vehicles has led to PVDF being in short supply since 2021.

The sharp increase in the price of PVDF has made the price increase of PVDF backplanes more significant. Although the increase in the price of the backplane is not only the result of PVDF, the price of PVDF has doubled, coupled with the increase in the price of all other materials such as PET and glue used in the backplate, resulting in an increase in the final price of the PVDF backplane by 2 to 3 yuan / m, in fact, the price has returned to 3 years ago.

Syvu is currently working closely with resin suppliers and providing them with market intelligence. Saiwu believes that if resin suppliers do not act quickly, they may lose the entire PV backplane market because alternatives are already available.

One of the alternatives to this PVDF backplane is a PVDF-free CPC structure. While Tier 1 component manufacturers are still using KPf structures, Tier 2 companies have turned to coating-based solutions to save costs. Another option is a PET-based backplane.

Saiwu believes that the tight supply of PVDF resin is temporary, and resin manufacturers are aware of this situation and are working to increase production capacity. Although the material supply situation will improve and return to normal, Saiwu does not expect much change in the supply of PVDF resins until October 2022.

2. About the transparent backplane

Back panel, now the glass has a new competitor, that is, the transparent back plate.

Falling glass prices, combined with a general increase in the price of all polymers, will lead to an increase in the market share of glass represented by double glass modules this year.

The biggest challenge with transparent backplanes is reducing costs and improving performance. In fact, the transparent backplane performance is enough that most leading component manufacturers have even completed all the test procedures, and now it's just a matter of cost. It can also be seen from what happened in 2020 that when glass prices were high, several component manufacturers turned to transparent backsheets; but with the sharp decline in glass prices since 2021, component factories turned to glass again.

For the transparent backplane, Saiwu believes that it is not possible to do this using a PVDF-based structure for the time being. Not only is the transparent variant of PVDF more expensive than the standard variant, but the transparent glue used in the transparent backplane is also a special material.

Saiwu believes that from the current situation, the transparent backplane has not reached the expected share in 2021 and will not be achieved in the coming months. For overseas component manufacturers in countries such as Turkey, where the cost of transporting glass from China is high and imported glass also incurs additional tariffs, transparent backplanes make sense in terms of cost for such markets.

In Saiwu's view, in the structural choice of double-sided power generation, competing with double glass must ensure that the price gap between the transparent backplane and the glass is close enough. Saiwu believes that the competitors of the backplane manufacturers are not other backplane suppliers, but glass.

3. About the mesh backplane

Transparent backplanes with white meshes are becoming increasingly popular. In the case of opaque backplane, when using a white backplane, part of the light through the battery gap is reflected back, which can increase the power generation power of the component. However, in the case of transparent backplanes, it is necessary to print a white mesh on the transparent backplanes to increase the power of the components by increasing reflections.

Interestingly, Saiwu can also offer grid backplane issuance solutions for manufacturers who want to produce black components.

The black component uses a black backplane, but Saiwu provides a white backplane with a black mesh, so that it still looks white from the front, but the part of the infrared light that passes through the battery can still be reflected back by the white backplane. Compared to black backplane assemblies, the white backplane of the black grid can increase the component power by at least 4 watts.

4. About the green backplane

Saiwu is also working in the direction of the green backplane.

Saiwu believes that there is a misconception in the market that all PET-based products are green, while fluorine-based products are not. Configured with polyolefin-based compounds as an inner layer of PET backplane, it is difficult to decompose in nature. PET takes about 100 years to decompose, but the co-extrusion backplane uses polyolefins (PP, PE) and takes millions of years to decompose.

For SAIVU products, even fluorine coatings of only 4 m are easier to decompose than backplates based on polyolefin films, such as PPE structures. From this point of view, Saiwu recommends the use of PET backsheets, an inner material other than polyolefins.

5. About the large size backplane

Larger components based on larger wafers have become an industry trend, and this development also has an impact on backplanes.

First, large components require a change in backplane size, and Saiwu has long been able to meet such a need.

Secondly, the large size poses a configuration challenge to the raw materials of the backplane. Saiwu believes that the backplanes based on the inner layer of polyolefins that currently appear on the market, such as KPO, KPM and KPE, are prone to failure in hot spot tests of high-powered components based on M10 and G12 batteries. The reason is simple: the melting point of these thin film materials is generally between 120 and 165 ° C, which is lower than the hot spot test temperature. Backplanes based on fluorine coatings such as KPf structures can pass such tests without problems.

Saiwu revealed that most leading companies have avoided using backplanes with polyolefin film inner layers in high-powered components, which can almost be said to be an unofficial ban.

6. About polymer encapsulation materials

For packaging materials, more and more white EVA is currently on the market for standard components, and POE is becoming the choice for double-sided components back-side packaging.

Syvu has developed EVA, white EVA, EPE and POE for the market, and for different component structures, Syvu recommends different combinations of packaging materials:

- Double-sided double-glass module, EVA on the front and CO-extruded EPE on the back;

- Glass back panel assembly, EVA is used on the front, and about 70% of the market uses white EVA as the back

- High efficiency technology TOPCon uses EPE+ POE, HJT recommends EPE+EPE.

Saiwu introduced that Saiwu is already the largest supplier of POE films in the market. Since September 2021, Saiwu has ranked among the top 4 packaging material manufacturers in the world. By the end of 2021, with all production capacity online, Saiwu will occupy 15% of the market share, aiming to rank among the top three in the world.

"PV Leader Innovation Forum" is actively preparing for the "9th PPIC - 9th Photovoltaic Polymer International Forum", more latest information on photovoltaic polymer materials, please pay attention to.

This article is partially compiled in the latest edition of TaiyangNews' "Backplane and Packaging Market Research", if you want to get the original report, please follow the prompts at the end of the article.

Original No.2213; Reprint contact authorization