With the two-wheel "accumulation" of "heterojunction + energy storage", Risen Energy continues to deepen the layout of the whole industrial chain

Bronco Finance

2024-05-08 17:38Posted on the official account of Shanxi Bronco Finance

Bet on heterojunction and differentiate.

Author | Feng Wanyu

Editor丨Gao Yuanshan

Source | Bronco Finance

How to seek a breakthrough for the photovoltaic industry in the throes of pain? New technologies become key variables.

Recently, Risen Energy (300118. SZ) released its 2023 annual report. According to the financial report, in 2023, the company will achieve operating income of 35.327 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.22%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.363 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.81%. The company's photovoltaic module shipments continued to consolidate its position in the top 10 in the world, and the second-curve energy storage business also ushered in significant growth.

At the same time, it should also be noted that the photovoltaic industry has reached the "crossroads" of expansion and surplus, and multiple technical routes, and the whole industry is experiencing a painful period. Affected by this, Risen's performance in the first quarter of 2024 has declined.

However, in response to the painful period of the industry, Risen Energy has already made full preparations.

After clarifying the path of cost reduction, Risen Energy bet on the cultivation of heterojunction (HJT) technology as the main starting point to gain N-type market share. In 2023, the company's new production capacity of high-efficiency heterojunction cells and modules has begun to be put into operation one after another. At the same time, the company is also increasing the layout of energy storage business, and further optimizing the capacity layout of the photovoltaic industry chain, and the market is vigorously exploring the photovoltaic market at home and abroad.

"In the face of the cyclical adjustment of the industry, Risen Energy will not be passive, but will become a 'light chaser', actively looking for the 'light' of new energy, and turning pressure into power. The competition in the technical route is fierce, so we will take our own path, constantly polish the heterojunction technology, empower from both economic value and green value, and create the most cost-effective products for users. Lin Haifeng, chairman of Risen Energy, said.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

01

"Photovoltaic + energy storage" two-wheel "storage"

Continue to deepen the layout of the whole industrial chain

Risen Energy was founded in 2002 and officially listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in 2010. In 2017, the company formally established the two new strategies of "photovoltaic + energy storage", and has now become a leading enterprise in the domestic photovoltaic and energy storage industry.

In 2021, based on the repositioning of its PV business focus, Risen Energy sold a number of subsidiaries, including Jiujiu Technology, Sveck and Ninghai Xindian Power Development Co., Ltd., and the focus of the PV business refocused on cell module manufacturing.

As the main revenue of Risen Energy, photovoltaic modules will achieve revenue of 28.675 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 18.85%. Since 2018, Risen Energy's PV module shipments have remained among the top 10 in the world for many years. In 2023, Risen Energy will achieve module sales of 18.99GW, continuing to consolidate its position in the top 10 in the world.

It is worth mentioning that the profitability of Risen Energy's PV modules will increase in 2023. The reason for this is that in addition to the downward price of upstream polysilicon and other links, it is also due to the company's accelerated release of production capacity advantages and the continuous increase in the proportion of self-supplied solar cells.

Through the vertical integration of the whole industry chain to improve profits, in 2023, Risen Energy will continue to supplement the silicon rod and wafer links on the basis of polysilicon. The overall gross profit margin of the PV module business reached 13.63%, an increase of 8.62 percentage points from 2022.

In terms of production capacity, by the end of 2023, Risen Energy's PV module production capacity will reach 35GW, which will be distributed in domestic and overseas production bases such as Ningbo in Zhejiang, Jintan in Jiangsu, Yiwu in Zhejiang, Chuzhou in Anhui, Malaysia and Baotou in Inner Mongolia.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

Continue to optimize the layout of production capacity. In 2023, Risen Energy is already promoting the construction of high-efficiency and advanced production capacity such as the annual output of 15GW N-type ultra-low-carbon high-efficiency heterojunction cells and 15GW high-efficiency solar modules in Ninghai, Zhejiang, the 4GW high-efficiency solar cells and 6GW high-efficiency solar module project in Jintan, Jiangsu, and the first phase of the 10GW high-efficiency solar cell project in Chuzhou, Anhui Province.

Based on cell modules, Risen Energy continues to expand and extend to the upstream industry chain through acquisitions, new establishments and strategic cooperation, deepening vertical integration to reduce the impact of price fluctuations in the supply chain.

At the same time, the company also continues to expand the downstream application scenarios of photovoltaics, and continues to extend downward to the energy storage power station business through power station applications, creating integrated services for photovoltaic and storage, and further opening up the company's profit space. In 2018, Risen Energy officially established the Energy Storage Division, acquired 90% of the shares of Shuangyili (Tianjin) New Energy Co., Ltd. in March of that year, and established Shuangyili (Ningbo) Battery Co., Ltd. in July to carry out energy storage related business.

At present, the energy storage business, which is the second growth curve of Risen, has "surfaced". In 2023, the company's energy storage systems and other products will achieve revenue of 2.336 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61.38%.

In terms of increasing the layout of energy storage, Risen Energy has begun to promote the R&D and manufacturing project of high-efficiency new energy storage system integration technology with an annual output of 10GWh in Ninghai County, with a total investment of about 2.058 billion yuan, and is expected to add 10GWh of energy storage system integration equipment capacity after completion.

In addition, Risen Energy continues to promote the commercial application of "optical storage", "optical storage and charging" integrated solutions, and smart microgrid solutions. The so-called integration, popularly understood, is that Risen Energy used to give a component, but now it is a turnkey project. For large-scale photovoltaic enterprises, it is an innate advantage to give customers more new energy solutions.

After years of accumulation of production capacity, Risen Energy has formed an industrial chain such as crystalline silicon material production, monocrystalline silicon wafer manufacturing, photovoltaic cell manufacturing and deep processing, photovoltaic module processing, photovoltaic power station construction and operation, and energy storage system integration. Risen Energy said that in the future, it will continue to improve the layout of the industrial chain to seize the opportunity of integrated development in the global photovoltaic industry chain ecology.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

02

Bet on heterojunction and differentiate

For the photovoltaic industry, which is in the throes of the period, new technologies are undoubtedly the key variables for the future reshaping of the pattern. After clarifying the path of cost reduction, Risen Energy has already bet on the cultivation of heterojunction (HJT) technology as its main starting point to gain N-type market share.

"In the current industry predicament, it is necessary to do a good job in internal strength, master your own cash flow, and do a better job of the company's truly specific and differentiated heterojunction production line." Risen Energy President Wu Xuegang said.

Some analysts have pointed out that among the top 10 photovoltaic module companies in the world in terms of shipments, Risen Energy is the only company that firmly chooses HJT.

In 2019, Risen Energy officially decided to focus on the R&D and mass production of next-generation heterojunction cell technology. In April 2020, the company completed the pilot line project of Jiangsu Jintan heterojunction cell, and in 2020, the company's heterojunction module shipment successfully ranked first in the world, and in November of that year, it acquired 100% equity of concentrating silicon industry to extend to the upstream industrial chain.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

At present, Risen Energy has completed the technology and production capacity conversion from P to N-type, and is also actively investing in the large-scale mass production of heterojunction, from the R&D end to the manufacturing end and the sales end, and the linkage results are continuously promoted.

In 2023, Risen Energy will use its own patented 0BB cell technology, 210 ultra-thin silicon wafer technology, sterling silver dosage less than 7mg/W, and stress-free battery interconnection technology to open up the through-line production process of heterojunction silicon wafers-cells-modules, becoming the first enterprise in the industry to achieve large-scale mass production of heterojunction cells and modules.

0BB refers to the process of removing the silver busbar line on the front and back of the battery, and replacing the original busbar with lamination, glue or spot welding process at the module end to achieve on-current effect. The core role of the 0BB process is to reduce costs, reduce the amount of silver paste, and increase the power of modules by more than 5W. Due to the above two characteristics, the 0BB process has become a cost-reducing technology that HJT and TOPCon focus on.

According to the analysis of industry insiders, Risen Energy can occupy the advantage of 0BB technology, which means that it will occupy an advantage in the future production and sales of heterojunction cell cells and modules.

Risen Energy also launched the Hyper-ion series of 700W+ heterojunction photovoltaic modules, which perform well in reducing LCOE.

According to Risen Energy's official WeChat message, the average daily power generation per watt of heterojunction Fuxi modules from December 2023 to February 2024 reached 4.25Wh/W, and the power generation gain was 2.82% higher than that of TOPCon. In addition, under the irradiation condition of only 3.55kW/m2 of irradiation, the monthly cumulative power generation gain of Fuxi modules can be 3.58% higher than that of TOPCon. At present, the mass production conversion efficiency of heterojunction cells in the industry has exceeded 26%, making the power of heterojunction modules exceed 700Wp.

In addition, up to now, Risen Energy has obtained the world's first 210 heterojunction high-efficiency thin-wafer module certification from TV SÜD, the first HJT cell certification from TV Rheinland, and the 3-fold IEC test certificate issued by TV SÜD.

The photovoltaic module industry is a technology-intensive and capital-intensive industry, and the advantages of technology and capital directly determine the competitive strength of players.

At the beginning of 2023, Risen Energy has successfully completed the private placement, raising a total of about 5 billion yuan, of which 3 billion yuan is planned to be invested in 5GW N-type ultra-low-carbon and high-efficiency heterojunction cells and 10GW high-efficiency solar module projects. As of the end of June 2023, a total of 1.754 billion yuan has been invested in raising funds, and the overall investment progress is 35.31%.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

03

The globalization strategy continues to advance

In fact, the main reason for Risen's performance growth in 2023 also includes breakthroughs in overseas markets.

Risen Energy's overseas cell and module production capacity was effectively released, and the North American module market achieved large-scale shipments. In 2023, the company's overseas module sales will reach 8.84GW, especially in emerging markets such as Brazil, Hungary, Australia, and Colombia.

Under the premise that green and low-carbon development has become a global consensus, the global energy transition and carbon neutrality goals have brought unprecedented development opportunities to the photovoltaic industry. The global layout is also the firm strategic direction of Risen Energy in the market.

"Many of the top 10 module manufacturers have very low module inventories overseas, with distribution inventories in the hundreds of megawatts." Wu Xuegang judged that the recovery speed of modules overseas may be faster. At the same time, the new product heterojunction is also expected to be very popular in some overseas countries.

Originally, Risen Energy's strategic focus was on some developed countries, and Risen Energy believes that the market opportunities involved in the rising Middle East and Africa markets and the Belt and Road Initiative will emerge next. Risen Energy has also set up a team for emerging markets to increase the company's sales network layout and coverage.

In terms of the integration business of photovoltaic storage projects, Risen Energy has also increased the scale of investment in the development of photovoltaic power plants around the world, including Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal, in accordance with the national "Belt and Road" construction plan, in addition to consolidating the original overseas power station investment areas such as Europe, Mexico, Australia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

Source: "Risen Energy" public account

As early as 2010, Risen Energy began to lay out overseas markets, and its products are exported to Europe, America, Japan, South Korea and other countries and regions. Before 2021, overseas revenue once accounted for more than 60% of the company's total revenue. When affected by some international factors, Risen Energy also adjusted its global production capacity layout in a timely manner to ensure the company's overseas market growth.

According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), as of March 2024, more than 100 countries and regions around the world have proposed carbon neutrality goals, 28 countries such as Germany have legislated on carbon neutrality, and 50 countries have formulated relevant policy documents. Among all types of renewable power sources, photovoltaic development potential is large and suitable for large-scale development, which is regarded as an important driving force to achieve carbon neutrality. This determines the high long-term space and growth certainty of the photovoltaic industry on a global scale.

What else do you know about the PV industry? Let's talk in the comment section.

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