L R AS Published on Sunday 1 March 2020 - n° 311 - Categories:China, industrial strategy
New capacity expansion announcements in China
Chinese manufacturers in the sector are announcing new increases in production capacity at a time when the epidemic is raging!
After Tongwei and LONGi
which recently unveiled ambitious plans to increase capacity, solar cell manufacturer Jiangsu Zhongyu Photovoltaic is preparing to invest RMB 10.2 billion ($1.46 billion) to increase its annual cell production capacity by 10 GW, wafer cutting facilities by 5 GW and panel production by 5 GW. This will be installed in the city of Suqian in Jiangsu province, where the epidemic is rampant. Jiangsu Zhongyu was the third largest cell manufacturer in the world in 2019, in terms of shipment volume, behind Tongwei and Aiko Solar.
The next day, another manufacturer in Jiangsu province, Jolywood, announced that it would spend RMB 3.5 billion to install 2 GW of high-efficiency n-TOPCon type cells to increase the production capacity of two-sided panels, which is currently 3 GW of TOPCon.
On the same day, cell manufacturer Aiko Solar announced a 4.3 GW increase in cell capacity in Yiwu city, Zhejiang province, within 12 months. Zhejiang is one of the Chinese provinces most affected by the coronavirus epidemic. Aiko will add 1.6 GW of additional cell production capacity at its Tianjin plant within four months and will create a research and development centre at its Yiwu plant within eight months.
PV Magazine of 27 February
Editor's note These capacity increases published at the time of the epidemic mean three things:
The first is that this disease is considered an epiphenomenon by the Chinese. It should not prevent the country from continuing its forward march. It must not interrupt production no matter what the price to be paid in human terms, since the epidemic has not disappeared.
The second is that we no longer know whether these announcements are a response to the announcements of the Chinese No. 1 and No. 2 who have also announced increases in capacity so as not to fall behind, or whether they are the result of an analysis of world demand. There is a race to install ever more capacity, ever more productive power. A desire to stifle competition from China, but above all from abroad, in the face of an avalanche of ever cheaper, ever more abundant, ever more sophisticated products.
The third is that China has shown a weakness with the spread of the epidemic. The leaders want to correct this negative impression by showing the world their ability to bounce back very quickly and without trembling, since increases in capacity are decided in the areas most infected by the coronavirus. There is absolute confidence in progress, in improvement, in the future. This is what China is showing.
