In the Northwest Gobi, in the depths of the desert, in the mountains, and on the roofs of houses, photovoltaic panels are formed into pieces of photovoltaic power generation panels, like a huge mirror, sending clean electricity to thousands of households, and some have become ordinary people. "Sunshine Passbook". In 2020, China Volt’s newly installed capacity was 48.2 GW, a year-on-year increase of about 60%, and the cumulative installed capacity has reached 253 GW. In all aspects of the manufacturing end, the output of polysilicon, silicon wafers, cells, and modules increased by 14.6%, respectively. 19.7%, 22.2% and 26.4%.

The scale of the photovoltaic industry continues to grow

"Under the background of the new crown pneumonia epidemic raging around the world, the world economy is in a severe recession, and the external environment is more complex and severe, this'report card' is not easy to come. It can be said to be'against the trend' and exceeded industry expectations." Wang Bohua, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, introduced that by 2020, China’s cumulative installed capacity, new installed capacity, polysilicon output, and photovoltaic module output will have been for 6 consecutive years, 8 years, 10 years, and 14 years, respectively. Ranked first in the world. In 2020, global PV installed capacity will be approximately 130 GW, a year-on-year increase of 13%. “Although affected by the epidemic, the global PV market still maintains a growth momentum, which is mainly due to the recovery growth of China's PV market.” Wang Bohua said.

In terms of import and export, China’s total exports of photovoltaic products in 2020 amounted to US$19.75 billion, which was down 5% year-on-year due to factors such as the epidemic and price cuts. Despite the decline in export value, the export volume of modules still increased by 18% year-on-year, and the export volume of silicon wafers and solar cells was basically the same as last year. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, China's polysilicon imports continued to decline. In 2020, imports fell by 30% year-on-year, and the self-sufficiency rate has reached nearly 80%.

Another notable feature of the development of the photovoltaic industry in 2020 is the rapid increase in industrial concentration. According to the data provided by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, in the four links of polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules, the top five companies in output accounted for 87.5%, 88.1%, 53.2% and 55.1% of the total domestic output, respectively, year-on-year Both increased by more than 10 percentage points.

The development of the photovoltaic industry still faces certain challenges

First of all, supply and demand in the industrial chain are tight. Since 2020, there has been a shortage of silicon materials, photovoltaic glass, back sheet film, etc., and prices have risen sharply. Major companies have begun to sign long-term orders to ensure product supply; secondly, in terms of new energy storage, energy storage profit model It is still single, and the economy still needs to be improved; the external environment is complicated and the proportion of non-technical costs is still high, which also brings challenges to the development of the industry.

"At present, with the decline in overall costs, the proportion of non-technical costs in the photovoltaic industry is increasing. According to statistics, about 15% of the costs are beyond the control of photovoltaic companies themselves, such as land and taxes. We hope to increase these non-technical costs. The effort to reduce the burden.” said Gao Jifan, Chairman of Trina Solar.

The promotion area of the new energy industry continues to expand. As a large energy-consuming country, China’s demand for electricity will continue to increase in the future. According to the forecast of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, China’s newly installed photovoltaic capacity will continue to grow in 2021 and may reach 55 GW. Up to 65 GW, the average annual domestic new installed capacity of photovoltaics during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period may reach 70 GW to 90 GW. At the same time, the development of large domestic power station bases will become a development trend, and large-size and high-power products will enter a stage of rapid development. Industry experts believe that in the future, "charging pile + photovoltaic", "UHV + photovoltaic", "big data center + photovoltaic" and other applications will also bring more room for development to the photovoltaic industry. Editor/Xu Shengpeng