A round-up of the latest news from China’s solar market, including the latest PV export statistics and Arctech’s plan to raise US$162 million.
Private enterprises encouraged to increase solar investment
On 7 November, China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued a document aimed at increasing policy support and incentivising private investments through market and reform measures.
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According to the document, private investment will be supported in the construction of 102 major projects and private enterprises will be encouraged to increase investment in energy conservation and carbon reduction such as solar power, wind power, biomass power generation and energy storage.
The document also requires speeding up the preliminary work for nongovernmental investment projects, such as expediting approval and record-keeping procedures, planning for site selection for usage of land and sea, conducting environmental impact assessments, and issuing construction permits for these projects.
Some private investment projects that play a key role in promoting economic and social development and have a large scale of investment will be provided with favourable resources such as land, energy, water and capital to facilitate their implementation.
Arctech Solar plans to raise US$162 million
Arctech Solar intends to raise more than RMB1.15 billion (US$162 million) by issuing shares. As well as helping the company boost its tracker production, the capital will be used to create a new research and development centre and build a PV power plant.
Arctech Solar said that after the private placement, the company will use part of the raised capital to invest in new production capacity of parallel drives, the core parts of the PV mounting system, further deepening the industrial chain layout and effectively controlling the production cost of PV brackets.
Despite fluctuations in international trade, it is hoped the investment will be able to effectively guarantee delivery to the company’s clients.
China’s PV module exports reached 121.5GW in Q1-Q3
According to Chinese customs, China exported 2.96 billion solar cells in the first three quarters of 2022, up 23.3% year-on-year. Module exports were 121.5GW, an 89% increase.
Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, said that they have asked many enterprises about their stock of small modules installed in European distributed power stations, but there were hardly any. Currently, there are nearly 20 gigawatt-scale markets for module export.
He pointed out that despite the continuous growth in the distributed PV market, growth in the more price-sensitive centralised PV stations has slowed down this year. This is closely related to high silicon prices since the beginning of the year. With raw material prices gradually stabilising, PV installations may speed up again in Q4.
Zheneng Electric Power acquires Zhonglai shares
Zheneng Electric Power plans to take over 9.7% of the equity of Zhonglai and entrust 10% of the voting rights to become a controlling party of Zhonglai. It will contribute to Zheneng’s position in equipment manufacturing, facilitate its crossover in two main industries and promote the company’s transformation and upgrading.
Zheneng Electric Power is a provincial state-owned holding enterprise mainly engaged in areas such as thermal, gas and nuclear power.
Zhonglai is primarilly focused on the development, production and sale of PV backsheets, n-type mono cells and modules, as well as the development and operation of PV application systems.
In the first three quarters of 2022, Zhonglai achieved operating revenue of RMB7.62 billion (US$1.1 billion), an increase of 84% year-on-year. Net profit attributed to the parent company was RMB343 million, with a year-on-year growth of 365%.
