L R AS Published on Monday 7 December 2020 - n° 343 - Categories:China, the manufacturers
Glass shortage and the situation of Chinese manufacturers
The price of solar glass, which cost between 20 and 23 RMB/m² in the years 2013-2019, rose rapidly in the second half of 2020. It reached 43 RMB and even 50 RMB / m² with some small manufacturers.
For the CPIA,
packaging represents almost 50% of the total cost of the panels; glass represents 19%. For example, a single-faced panel using 166 mm cells requires an average of 2.2 ? of glass which, based on the current price, costs almost 100 RMB, i.e. a cost of 0.2/W RMB. This doubles the cost of 0.1/W RMB it cost in July. The increasing demand for double-glazed panels and larger panels will keep pressure on production. Major manufacturers are booking orders in advance
In December 2019, China's solar glass production capacity was 25,360 tonnes/day. 6,900 t/d was to be added in 2020. One of the manufacturers is forecasting a 15% glass shortage in 2021. It estimates that the balance between supply and demand will not be reached before 2022.
| Company | Current Capacity | Investment (RMB billion) | Capacity Planned |
| Xinyi Solar | Unknown | Unknown | One additional thousand-ton level production line planned for each season in 2021-2022 |
| CSG A | Five electronic glass production lines | 0.494 | 2.1 million square meters of insulating glass, 3.5 million square meters of coated glass per year |
| 3.15 | Oven 1,200-ton solar glass production lines in light-weight, high transparency panel manufacturing base at its Anhui Solar Facillity, construction to be finished in 24 months | ||
| Flat | Solar glass 5,290 tons/day | 2.17 | Module cover glass phase 2 project with an annual capacity of 750,000 tons |
| Caihong New Energy | Unknown | 0.5 | 5 deep processing lines for ultra-thin, dual-film, big-size photoelectric glass |
| Unknown | Plans to build a solar glass kiln and supporting facility with pull volume 750 tons/day | ||
| Luoyang Glass | Unknown | 0.186 | Add a 32.4-million-square-meter backsheet glass deep processing production line |
| Almaden | Unknown | 0.877 | Construction of a smart deep-processing line for big-size, high-power, ultra-thin solar glass, technological improvement?construction of a smart deep-processing line for BIPV anti-glare coated glass |
| Unknown | An annual capacity of 100 million square meters of special photoelectric glass to be achieved upon the completion of Fengyang Base Project | ||
| Kibing Glass | Unknown | 1.373 | 1,200t/d high-transparency backsheet material and deep processing in Shaoxing |
| 1.027 | 1,200t/d high-transparency module substrate material production line in Zixing | ||
| Topray Solar | Four glass lines, daily melt volume 900T/D | Unknown | Technological improvement for 2,240-ton solar glass production lines in Chencheng, which produce 18 million square meters of 1.8-2.5 mm glass annually. |
Panel manufacturers are suffering from the rise in the price of glass and are placing orders corresponding to their expected need for glass.
PV Tech of 25 November
