Our reporters Zhang Yingying and Wu Kezhong report from Beijing.
As the global installed PV capacity continues to rise, the retired module** market is about to usher in explosive growth. In the past two years, this emerging industry has gained momentum and attracted much attention.
On February 26, the reporter of "China Business Daily" learned from the 2024 annual meeting of the photovoltaic industry development and cooperation center and the 6th photovoltaic equipment and recycling technology forum that with the support of policies and the joint efforts of industry enterprises, the industrialization process of photovoltaic industry has been continuously promoted. More and more people are paying attention to and laying out this field, and at present, a small number of enterprises have completed institutional financing, and there are 10,000-ton module processing production lines on the market.
Although the PV industry has shown a continuous positive development trend, the market is still in the early stages of development because the large-scale retirement period has not yet arrived. At present, China's photovoltaic industry is still facing problems such as imperfect policy system, unclear responsibility subjects, difficulty in obtaining waste modules, uneven technical level, and urgent need to improve product feasibility design requirements. These problems have become an obstacle for the industry to move towards real commercialization, which is directly related to whether the photovoltaic green industry chain can successfully open up the "last mile".
The 10,000-ton module processing production line emerged
According to the latest results of the Photovoltaic Industry Development and Cooperation Center of the Photovoltaic Industry Special Committee of the China Green Chain Alliance, under the conventional retirement scenario, the cumulative retirement of photovoltaics in 2030, 2040 and 2050 will reach 1 million tons, 12 million tons and 55 million tons respectively; Under the early retirement scenario, it will reach 4 million tons, 23 million tons and 66 million tons, respectively. This also indicates that the photovoltaic industry is expected to form a real blue ocean in the next few years.
Last year was known as the "first year" of the photovoltaic industry. The state has introduced relevant policies, and the first and most resource-based technologies have been continuously improved, and related enterprises have emerged.
In August 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Recycling of Retired Wind Power and Photovoltaic Equipment" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), which for the first time made a comprehensive and systematic deployment for the recycling of retired equipment in China's wind power and photovoltaic fields, bringing new historical opportunities for industrial development.
Pang Xiulan, deputy director of the photovoltaic industry development and cooperation center of the photovoltaic industry of the photovoltaic special committee of the China Green Chain Alliance and deputy general manager of the photovoltaic (energy storage) industry innovation center of the State Power Investment Corporation, said that the introduction of the policy marks that China will accelerate the layout of waste photovoltaic modules and reuse recycling system, and the photovoltaic industry will usher in a new stage of standardized and healthy development.
Driven by policy support and market demand, combined with the foundation of domestic scientific research and demonstration and the exploration of the industry, the focus of China's photovoltaic market in 2023 will begin to tilt towards industrialization, and more and more enterprises will actively deploy photovoltaic business and devote themselves to the construction of production lines.
At present, there are 10 mainstream enterprises in the photovoltaic market that have production line construction, including State Power Investment Group, Jinko Solar, Yingli Group, Changzhou Ruisai Environmental Protection Technology, Shanghai Jinghuan Jiayuan New Energy Technology, hereinafter referred to as "Jinghuan Jiayuan"), Changsha Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Changsha Institute of Mining and Metallurgy") and 10 others.
Peng Sai, president and co-founder of Jinghuan Jiayuan, said in an interview with reporters that module ** is a good cause, which can not only turn large-scale retired modules into treasure in the future and create economic benefits, but also help optimize the environment and reduce carbon emissions. At present, more and more people are paying attention to this field, and the market will be large in the future.
Relying on the self-developed GST green module separation technology, the company has been able to complete the production of 6N-level polysilicon, and has completed the construction of a 10,000-ton module mass production line in Fengyang, Anhui Province, and is also considering investing in overseas factories. Peng Sai said that the company has just completed a round of financing, which provides financial support for further development.
Economy is an unavoidable problem in the photovoltaic industry. Lv Fang, Secretary-General of the Photovoltaic Industry Development and Cooperation Center of the Photovoltaic Industry of the Photovoltaic Special Committee of the China Green Chain Alliance, said: "Many people are very concerned about economic issues, whether the economic account can be calculated, whether subsidies are needed, and where the subsidies come from, these issues need to be further explored. ”
In 2023, China's photovoltaic and recycling*** hereinafter referred to as "* pointed out that at the beginning of the photovoltaic module utilization market, the economic benefits were still low. At the same time, "* also provides a project case with a total investment of 40 million yuan and a processing capacity of 6,000 tons of retired photovoltaic module production line construction, with a project service period of 10 years and infrastructure construction for 1 year. The total profit of the project is 4 million yuan per year, the net profit is 3 million yuan per year, and the internal rate of return on tax investment is 8%. The investment period including the construction period is 8 years, which has certain economic benefits.
Peng Sai believes that the economics of PV modules will not be an issue in the future. "This industry is not as beautiful as the outside world thinks, and it is certainly not very profitable. ”
The main responsibilities need to be further clarified
At present, the entire photovoltaic chain includes three links: collection (upstream), treatment (midstream) and reuse (downstream) of retired photovoltaic modules. However, photovoltaic is still in the early stage of industrialization, and there are still certain difficulties in realizing the effective operation of the industrial chain.
Zhang Shengguang is the director of the Intelligent Equipment Research Institute of Changsha Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, which as early as 2018 forward-looking investment in the research of retired photovoltaic module technology and equipment, and cooperated with the State Power Investment Group Yellow River Upstream Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. to complete the research and development of module technology and testing machine, realize the process penetration, and build a demonstration line for annual processing of 30MW retired modules.
Regarding the difficulties of the photovoltaic industry, Zhang Shengguang told reporters: "First of all, there is no clear thing about who will do the modules; Secondly, in order to truly produce benefits, it must be large-scale production, and the first channel of decommissioned components is a difficult point; In addition, the cost of technology needs to be low enough, including the cost of equipment, and the cost of environmental protection must be taken into account. ”
At the same time, "*" also points out the problem of unclear responsible subjects. Power generation enterprises, equipment manufacturing enterprises, enterprises and other market entities have not formed a clear division of responsibilities and effective cooperation mechanism, the use of the industrial chain is not smooth, a large number of decommissioned equipment is stranded in the power station owners and businessmen, resource enterprises can not obtain sufficient raw materials, resource allocation efficiency is low, it is urgent to explore from the responsibility system construction and model innovation.
Peng Sai said: "I hope that the industry will become more and more standardized and consolidate the main body of responsibility. For example, decommissioned components should flow to professional and qualified market entities to avoid random discarding, violent dismantling and other phenomena, which will have an adverse impact on the environment. At the same time, he suggested that policies should be introduced like the power battery industry to establish a whitelist system for photovoltaics.
Zhang Shengguang also suggested that the photovoltaic industry should set up a whitelist system and set up entry thresholds. At the same time, standardize the best channels, so that enterprises that have the ability to do a good job in components can easily obtain resources.
From the early stage of development to the maturity of an emerging industry, it is necessary to continuously improve policies and remove obstacles to development. In view of the above-mentioned issues, the Guiding Opinions have set the main objectives and key tasks. By 2025, the responsibility mechanism for the disposal of decommissioned equipment of centralized wind farms and photovoltaic power stations will be basically established, the relevant standards and specifications for the recycling of retired wind power and photovoltaic equipment will be further improved, and breakthroughs will be made in key technologies for resource recycling.
In the current stage of industry development, Zhang Shengguang suggested to relevant component enterprises: "First, have an in-depth understanding of products. Clarify and understand the products of the whole industry chain from the generation to the reuse of waste photovoltaic modules, and find a suitable entry point in combination with the enterprise endowment. Second, deepen the core technology. In the industry, the research and development of core technology is an important factor in determining the initiative of business development, and I believe that it is the same for the photovoltaic module industry. Third, deepen channel coverage. For the industry, the common point is the problem of goods coming from. It is particularly important to do a good job in channel layout and cooperation mode with customers and businessmen for the long-term development of enterprises. ”
Start from the source of product design
It is worth mentioning that to realize the greening of the entire photovoltaic industry chain, in addition to making efforts at the first end of photovoltaic modules, the design of photovoltaic products - product feasibility design has also received more and more attention from the industry.
The Photovoltaic Industry Development and Cooperation Center of the Photovoltaic Industry of the Photovoltaic Special Committee of the China Green Chain Alliance pointed out that how to ensure the quality of the product design process while reducing the technical difficulty, waste of resources and environmental pollution in the future is another challenge faced by the photovoltaic industry.
It is understood that at present, the European Union, the United States and China are stepping up the development of photovoltaic product design specifications. In 2021, the International Energy Agency's PVPS Task12 Sustainability Working Group issued the "Guidelines for the Design of Photovoltaic Modules" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which put forward suggestions on the design of products from various aspects such as information traceability of photovoltaic products, selection and use of non-polluting metal materials, selection of packaging materials and methods, reduction of irreversible bonding, and use of fluorine-free backsheets.
For example, the first fluorine-containing backsheet has always been a problem in the industry. Lv Fang previously said in an interview with reporters: "In the past, 90% of the backsheets of photovoltaic modules were fluorine-containing backsheets, which cannot be burned or buried, otherwise they will bring irreversible environmental pollution and major harm to the human body." The guidelines mention that fluoropolymers must be avoided in photovoltaic modules and that other polyethylene terephthalate-based or bio-based materials are recommended as alternatives. In addition, it is recommended that all materials used in PV modules must be labelled to inform users of the relevant treatment methods and environmental risks.
On the basis of the "Guide", the Photovoltaic Industry Development and Cooperation Center of the Photovoltaic Industry Development and Cooperation Committee of the China Green Chain Alliance has also formed the "Guidelines and Suggestions for the Feasibility Design of Photovoltaic Modules in China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines and Suggestions"), which respectively put forward suggestions on the feasibility design of products from the aspects of photovoltaic cells, glass, frames, backsheets, adhesive films, silica gels, modules and logistics packaging, and put forward new "three no" suggestions, namely "lead-free, fluorine-free, and oxime-free".
For example, photovoltaic silicone is one of the core packaging materials for photovoltaic modules, which is mainly divided into dealcoholization type and oxime type. Xu Jun, general manager of Shanghai Haibo adhesive materials, told reporters that at this stage, oxime silicone is the mainstream product in the market, but oxime silicone is used in the production process of components, solidified by absorbing moisture in the air, and at the same time releasing oxime substances such as butanone oxime, which is very harmful to the environment and health (carcinogenic). Under normal circumstances, the released butanone oxime can be smelled in the photovoltaic module workshop, which is full of pungent odor.
In December 2021, the European Union published Regulation (EU) 2021 2204 in its Official Journal to update the list of CMR (carcinogenic, teratogenic or toxic to reproduction) substances in Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation to include butanone oxime. According to incomplete statistics, if calculated according to 600 tons of silica gel per GW module, 15 butanone oxime will be released in the entire production process6 tons. At present, some domestic companies are trying to use greener dealcoholized silica gel materials instead.
Xu Jun also told reporters: "At present, the state has no relevant laws and regulations to control the volatile substances such as butanone oxime, which is large in quantity and harmful, and needs to be further improved. ”
Lv Fang said: "The design of photovoltaic products requires relevant enterprises to balance the reliability, economy and feasibility of photovoltaic modules, which is not easy. However, in the future, our photovoltaic industry will also use 'three no' products, that is, lead-free welding tape, fluorine-free backplane, and oxime-free silica gel. ”
Editor: Dong Shuguang Proofreader: Yan Jingning).