"One Station, One Exploration": Looking for the "strong grass" of China's photovoltaic industry

A few days ago, LONGi Green Energy, the world's leading solar energy technology company, and CCTV.com, China Central Radio and Television, jointly created the "first domestic photovoltaic power station documentary visit program" - "One Station, One Exploration" was launched.

In order to better "carbon" and find the latest information on China's energy transition practice, the program visited four representative photovoltaic power stations, and deeply analyzed the energy efficiency of photovoltaic technology in diversified scenarios such as mountains, tidal flats, and mines through field research. In LONGi's view, such a program can deeply interpret the unique value of photovoltaic power plants through immersive interviews, and outline a path curve with reference significance for the future of China's photovoltaic industry.

Present game: Ice and fire are two new worlds?

At the same time as the hit of the "One Station, One Exploration" program, the National Energy Administration released the latest national power industry statistics this year: in the first quarter of 2024, the new installed photovoltaic capacity will be 45.74GW, a year-on-year increase of 36%. At this rate, it will be very easy to achieve the annual target of 190-220GW of new installed capacity expected by the China Photovoltaic Association.

According to the latest data from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association in April, the prices of "silicon materials, silicon wafers, cells, and modules" in the four major manufacturing links of the photovoltaic industry chain have all fallen further. Among them, polysilicon has dropped to about 50,000 yuan/ton, down nearly 90% from last year's market peak of 300,000 yuan/ton. On the module side, the latest statistics from research institute InfoLink Consulting show that the "cabbage price" of PV modules has fallen below the "cabbage price" of 1 yuan/W by the end of 2023, and there is still room to bottom out - the average price of 182/210mm TOPCon modules in China's centralized PV projects has dropped to 0.88 yuan/W.

It can be corroborated from the 2023 annual financial reports and the first quarter 2024 financial reports of the mainland photovoltaic giants: more than half of the top five photovoltaic companies have experienced a decline in operating income and net profit, and profitability has declined significantly. At the same time, the popularity of the photovoltaic track has not diminished at all, and many entrants have completely covered all the links in the upstream, middle and downstream of the overall industry in the past three years.

As the program director, Liu Yuxi, President of LONGi Green Energy China, said that through this program, the value contribution of photovoltaics to China's energy transition practice can be concretely displayed, and at the same time, he hopes that the public will systematically understand the development of domestic photovoltaics, the problems faced, the future development trends, etc., and at the same time call on all walks of life to pay attention to the healthy development of the photovoltaic industry and jointly contribute to China's energy transition.

Perspective: Strong grass can meet the wind

The focus of "One Station One Exploration" is to penetrate into the operational frontier of multiple photovoltaic power plant projects and explore win-win measures with the local environment, starting from multiple scenarios such as "coal mining subsidence area management, mountain projects, Haiguang projects, green power + green hydrogen", and analyze the unique value of the "photovoltaic +" model in the future energy transition process.

Through these examples, it can be found that the photovoltaic industry is no longer limited to a single technology research, but to adapt measures to local conditions, according to different regions, customers, and different scenarios to provide more targeted products, technologies and even solutions. In the application process, photovoltaic products no longer only play the role of a power station, it is not only the source of green and clean energy production, but also the reality carrier of ecological co-construction, and finally penetrates the environment, human beings, and energy to achieve "one symbiosis".

Zhong Baoshen once said: "Improving customer service efficiency and quality through differentiated products, and actively participating in market competition are the keys to maintaining LONGi's core competitiveness. ”

The value orientation of "customer-centric" can not only accurately benchmark the market demand, but also point out the correct research direction for technological innovation. It can be seen from the program "One Station, One Exploration" that the two major focuses of "customer experience" and "technological innovation" have made LONGi Green Energy's business methodology of "wide research and narrow investment" verified in reality, that is, it adheres to the guiding ideology of "wide research" in research and development, and will invest in photovoltaic technologies that can be seen and thought to have opportunities, so as to ensure that corporate decision-makers can have sufficient information research and judgment capabilities; At the same time, when carrying out the layout of production capacity, "narrow investment" is adopted, that is, the technology with the most development potential and the most social value is selected, and the mass production link is more focused, so as to open up the bloodline of the entire enterprise operation.

Future: Self-driven after the sun

China is a global leader in renewable energy and is expected to account for 60% of the world's new renewable electricity generation by 2028. At the same time, China is the manufacturing center of the global photovoltaic industry, with nearly 90% of the global photovoltaic industry's production capacity in China, and 7 of the top 10 photovoltaic module companies in the world. There are still a lot of gaps in the domestic and foreign markets that need to be filled. In terms of policy, the proposal of the concept of new quality productivity has also given the photovoltaic industry a sunny "next stop".

The positive signal of "born to the sun" requires the photovoltaic industry to be fully integrated in the three links of "technology research and development", "market demand" and "market supply" in order to release real value. First of all, for example, LONGi Green Energy's "broad research" strategic methodology is essentially to establish a technological moat for enterprises, so as to truly cross the time dislocation between "advanced technology research and development and accurate market investment", and avoid the dead cycle of "due to the lack of core technology, which leads to strategic follow-up of products after mass production, and passively follows again". Taking LONGi Green Energy as an example, whether it is the earlier shift of the industry's technical route from polycrystalline to monocrystalline in the field of silicon wafers, or the R&D of modules such as PERC cells and TOPCon cells, or the world records currently set in the fields of crystalline silicon single-junction technology and crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem technology, or even the rapid breakthrough of "R&D-mass production" of BC products, the release of new HPBC products, and the release of new technology products such as LONGi Terek silicon wafers and the world's first humidity and heat-resistant module Hi-MO X6...... From its listing in 2012 to the end of 2023, the total R&D investment of more than 27 billion yuan ensures that LONGi can always be at the forefront of new products, not simply keeping up with the trend, but also seeking how to lead the industry.

In terms of market demand, it can be found from the program "One Station One Exploration" that in order to better meet the needs of power generation, LONGi Green Energy provides an aerial "physical examination" once a year during the whole life cycle of the photovoltaic power station in the photovoltaic power station project of Shengli Energy open-air dump photovoltaic storage power station of the National Energy Group. From the side, photovoltaic enterprises need to really go to the front end to discover the needs of customers, tap the value in the service process, form an integrated responsibility and interest interaction with customers, gradually expand the extension of business and the boundary of service, and transform from a single science and technology manufacturing industry to the "technology + service" business direction, in order to build strength barriers.

Finally, in terms of market supply, how to keep up with the pace of the market while building technological competitiveness requires photovoltaic companies to cultivate more intelligent and digital production methods. In other words, if photovoltaic is one of the important infrastructures for energy transition, then photovoltaic enterprises themselves need to build a more efficient operation system in the production, research and marketing process, promote the correct transformation of enterprises from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", and complete the deep cultivation and layout of key regional markets at home and abroad while improving efficiency.

The future of the photovoltaic industry will be a process of nurturing goodwill and releasing the value of goodwill. "Explore a station, reduce a carbon", although the program "One Station One Exploration" has been temporarily concluded, the imagination space of China's photovoltaic industry has just opened. (Lee Kee)