Editorial Department of this journal |Qi Yongchao
On December 28th, the market changed its previous decline and ushered in a strong **, and a number of plates successively counterattacked, among them, the photovoltaic BC cell sector rose by nearly 10% "Bull Crown City", and the first in the plate set off a batch of ...... of daily limitsAs an important photovoltaic cell technology, major manufacturers have recently increased the layout of BC cells. According to the analysis, with the breakthrough of BC technology and the implementation of production capacity, new investment opportunities are also emerging.
Photovoltaic BC cells are quietly rising
Drive the strong outbreak of the new energy track
Since entering December, the market as a whole has been in an adjustment channel, such as December 1 and December 27, when major market indices closed down. However, this "declining trend" is also ushering in changes, on December 28, the major indices have increased one after another, the Shanghai Composite Index, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Index, and the ChiNext Index respectively. 71% vs. 385%。
Behind the overall strong market outcome, the vast majority of themes have also ushered in a strong outbreak, among them, the photovoltaic BC cell sector has "stolen the spotlight", and the sector has risen by 9 on the same day5%。With the overall strength of BC cells, other photovoltaic solar technology concepts such as HJT (heterojunction), TOPCon, and perovskite have also ushered in a collective **...
In the BC battery sector, the first has set off a tide of daily limits, such as enjoying the technology to close out the "30cm" daily limit;Yubang New Materials and Haiyou New Materials both closed out the "20cm" daily limit;LONGi Green Energy and Aiko shares all closed the "10cm" daily limit. In addition, a number of concept stocks have also ushered in a strong **, on the whole, the top companies are mainly concentrated in the field of photovoltaic equipment (see Table 1).
What is BC battery technology?The data shows thatBC is the abbreviation of back contact, BC battery technology is back contact battery. The main principle is to move the PN junction and the metal contact to the back of the battery, so that there is no electrode blocking on the front, and the battery absorbs more sunlight in an area, thereby improving the conversion efficiency and emitting more power. BC battery does not refer to a specific type of battery, but a general platform technology. It can be combined with PREC, TOPCON, HJT to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. From the perspective of the technical path of BC batteries, they can be roughly divided into IBC (cross-back contact), HPBC, TBC (tunnel oxide passivation contact back contact), ABC, and HBC (heterojunction back contact).
As a new generation of photovoltaic cell technology path, the sudden explosion of the concept of BC battery may be related to the technological breakthroughs of leading companies in the industry in this field.
On December 19, LONGi Green Energy announced that according to the authoritative certification report of the Solar Energy Research Institute (ISFH) in Hamelin, Germany, the company's self-developed back-contact crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells (HBC) have obtained 2709% cell conversion efficiency, setting a new world record for the efficiency of monocrystalline silicon solar cells;On December 20, Aiko Co., Ltd. launched the world's first high-bifaciality ABC (AllBackContact) module "Stellar Series". It is understood that the bifaciality of the product can reach 70%, the highest module power is 640W, and the highest mass production efficiency is as high as 237%。
Since the beginning of this year, the overall performance of the photovoltaic sector has continued to be under pressure, and the stock prices of many companies have fallen by more than 50%. Analysts believe that one of the important logics of the photovoltaic industry is innovation. This is also an important driving factor that is expected to drive the inflection point of the sector. On December 12, in the 2024 investment strategy meeting of this magazine, Cui Chenlong, director of the investment department and chief ESG officer of Qianhai Open Source, said that the first thing that photovoltaic companies value most is their innovation ability, which is often directly reflected in product strength. "Looking at the market outlook, in terms of cell technologies such as heterojunction and perovskite, if some companies can achieve technological breakthroughs and take the lead, there will be huge investment opportunities. ”
For BC battery technology, the view of brokerage institutions is also optimistic. Such as:Guosheng ** said that BC batteries may become a new choice for the industry in the future, and the accelerated penetration of technology is expected to drive the procurement demand for laser equipmentHuaxi** said that with the continuous breakthrough of BC technology and the steady implementation of production capacity, the cell companies that take the lead in deploying BC technology have a leading advantage, and related equipment and auxiliary materials will usher in new growth opportunities.
Multi-company spoilers BC battery layout
The volume of business orders is ushering in an increase
Since the BC battery concept was "born" not long ago, investors have paid attention to it. Recently, with the continuous heating up of BC batteries, on the interactive platform, investors' attention to the business layout of listed companies in this field is further heating up.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, BC batteries involve battery components, equipment and auxiliary materials. In response to investors' concerns, many companies spoiled the layout of the above-mentioned related industrial chains. For example, according to Cybrid Technology, it has successively launched optical transfer film for HJT modules and wire bonding tape for BC modules to the market.
With the acceleration of the marketization of BC batteries and the continuous implementation of production capacity, related companies are also ushering in the accelerated introduction of products. For example, Lushan New Materials said that at present, the back contact photovoltaic module (BC cell) encapsulation film is in the testing certification and introduction stage, and the company is currently ready for mass production, and it can be mass-produced after the introduction is completedHuitian New Materials said that in the field of BC batteries, the company's photovoltaic silica gel products are supplied to customers such as LONGi (green energy) and Aixu (shares).
Some companies spoiled their views on BC batteries. Foster said that the coexistence of a variety of module technologies in the current market, such as N-type TOPCon and HJT technologies, BC cell technology, perovskite and perovskite crystalline silicon tandem technology, fully reflects the technological progress of the photovoltaic industry. However, there are also some relative shortcomings of BC batteries. JinkoSolar said that BC cells have a lower bifaciality and are more suitable for single-sided application scenarios, and can be deployed as a branch of the market technology route. At present, the maturity of BC battery technology in the industry still needs to be improved, and there is still a big gap between the integration cost and economy and that of N-type TOPCON.
In addition, recently, a number of companies, including Debang Technology, Trina Solar, Tongwei Co., Ltd., etc., have spoiled the relevant layout of BC batteries and the industrial chain (see Table 2).
Combined with the performance of the secondary market, the stock prices of many of the above companies have also ushered in a strong ** in recent days. For example, on December 28, Trina Solar**11%;Cybrid technology closed out the "10cm" limit;Tongwei shares** nearly 9% ......
Hillhouse and Chen Fashu stick to the layout of "it".
Ge Weidong's latest "photo" is the target
Behind the BC battery company that has recently ushered in the change, there are many heavyweight investment institutions and investors. Such as Hillhouse and well-known natural person investors Chen Fashu, Ge Weidong, etc.
For example, LONGi Green Energy, which has a first-class release bureau in the field of BC batteries, has a layout of Hillhouse and Chen Fashu behind it. According to the shareholder positions disclosed by LONGi Green Energy as of the end of the third quarter of this year, Hillhouse increased its position by 987560,000 shares to 37,762100,000 shares, as of the end of the quarter, the market value of the position exceeded 10 billion yuan. The data shows that Hillhouse once appeared in the list of the top ten shareholders of LONGi Green Energy as a new entrant in the 2021 annual report, and has held positions for 8 consecutive quarters in the third quarter report of 2023, many of which are holding positions.
Chen Fashu also gave a "long-term" shareholding to LONGi Green Energy, and he was newly listed in the top 10 shareholders of LONGi Green Energy in the third quarter of 2018, and has increased its position in many quarters since then. As of the third quarter of 2023, it has been held for more than 20 consecutive quarters (see Table 3).
In addition, many BC battery concept companies have also received research attention from institutions. For example, Innova Laser, which obtained the institutional investigation on December 27, for the progress of the company's BC laser film opening equipment concerned by the institution, Innova Laser said that the first generation of equipment has passed the mass production verification, and it is expected that the second generation of products will be launched next year. Photovoltaic testing equipment company Optek also obtained an institutional survey on December 26, in which it said that the company's AI large model in the field of visual inspection is highly compatible, covering conventional monocrystalline, polycrystalline, TOPCON, N-type, HJT, BC, BIPV, PEROVSKITE and other cells.
Some companies have attracted the attention of heavyweight investor Ge Weidong. For example, in the research list of Microconductive Nano on December 26, Ge Weidong's chaotic investment appeared in it. Microconductive Nano's main business is photovoltaic equipment, etc., and it revealed in the survey that since 2022, the company's ALD equipment used in the manufacture of BC batteries has successively received orders from LONGi (green energy) and Aiko (shares), and has been gradually shipped. Some of the equipment has passed the customer acceptance in 2023, and the products have entered the stage of industrial application.
(The ** mentioned in the article is for example analysis only, not as a recommendation for buying and selling.) ）