The development of the photovoltaic equipment industry
According to the photovoltaic cell industry chain, photovoltaic equipment can be divided into silicon wafer equipment, cell equipment, and module equipment, of which silicon wafer equipment mainly includes polycrystalline ingot furnaces, monocrystalline furnaces, slicers, cutting machines, silicon wafer testing and sorting equipment, etc.;Cell equipment mainly includes cleaning and texturing equipment, diffusion furnace, etching equipment, coating equipment, laser slotting equipment, screen printing machine, etcComponent equipment mainly includes dicing machine, automatic stringer welding machine, automatic lamination equipment, laminating machine, automatic packaging machine, etc.
Through the innovative integration of technology and equipment, China's photovoltaic cell equipment manufacturing enterprises aim to improve equipment production capacity, automation degree and conversion efficiency, and at the same time adapt to the production of large silicon wafers. Since 2010, China has been the world's largest market for photovoltaic equipment. In 2018, the scale of China's photovoltaic equipment industry reached 22 billion yuan.
In 2019, it reached 25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 136%。In 2020, the scale of the photovoltaic equipment industry exceeded 28 billion yuan, and it still maintained growth under the influence of objective unfavorable factors such as the new crown epidemic. In 2021, with the release of the plan for the expansion of photovoltaic enterprises' production capacity, orders from related equipment manufacturers will continue to increase, and the scale of China's photovoltaic equipment industry will exceed 40 billion yuan. Driven by the development trend of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency" in the photovoltaic industry, new products and technologies are emerging in an endless stream, and the corresponding demand for mass production and expansion has generated more demand for production equipment.
Application of photovoltaic thin film deposition equipment
Photovoltaic thin film deposition equipment is mainly used in the manufacturing process of solar crystalline silicon cells, and the thin film deposition equipment used will vary according to the different processes of the cell and the required thin film properties. From 2018 to 2021, China's newly built production lines are basically all PERC production lines, and the production equipment has basically been localized for the production technology of PERC cells that have been mass-produced, among which the thin-film deposition equipment is mainly used for the passivation of PERC batteries and the preparation of anti-reflection coatings. For new high-efficiency batteries, Topcon batteries and HJT batteries, which have the most clear industrialization prospects, have a higher demand for thin film deposition.
The TOPCon cell line can be upgraded from the PERC cell line, which adds the need for tunneling and doped polysilicon layer coatings in addition to the original thin film deposition. The overall structure of HJT battery changes greatly, and only 4 categories of equipment are needed in its manufacturing process, namely texturing cleaning equipment (investment accounting for 10%), amorphous silicon deposition equipment (investment accounting for 50%), transparent conductive film equipment (investment accounting for 25%) and printing equipment (investment accounting for 15%), of which amorphous silicon deposition equipment and transparent conductive film equipment all need thin film deposition equipment.
The development trend of photovoltaic thin film equipment
a. Technological innovation has given rise to more equipment demand
At this stage, the development of the downstream photovoltaic industry has changed from the extensive and epitaxial development of the past to the refined and connotative development, and the high-efficiency and low-cost products are favored by the industry, and the demand for product upgrading has been further improved. Photovoltaic enterprises have gradually shifted from the traditional emphasis on economies of scale and reliance on subsidies to the pursuit of high-efficiency, high-performance and high-quality photovoltaic products. In the context of the increasing importance of marketization, the innovation of various technologies will give rise to more equipment demand.
b. Equipment development and new technology are more closely combined
The combination of equipment development and new process technology development has become a trend. For the purpose of improving conversion efficiency, the production of new processes will be carried out in a joint way of design, manufacturing, process development, equipment development and improvement, and the upstream and downstream will work closely together, which will not only shorten the development cycle of equipment, but also promote the application of advanced technology, reduce equipment procurement costs, and further improve the market competitiveness of domestic photovoltaic enterprises.
c. Thin film deposition has increased the proportion of investment in the new generation of photovoltaic equipment
Since the TOPCon cell production line can be upgraded and completed by the existing PECR cell production line, and the unit investment scale and operating cost of the TOPCon cell production line are significantly lower than those of the HJT battery production line, the TOPCon cell production line has made significant progress in the construction of N-type battery line.
According to the project investment details disclosed by listed companies, the average investment scale per GW of TOPCON (including N-type cells with undisclosed specific technology types) production line is higher than that of PERC production line.