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LONGi aims for ‘back contact 2.0’ in 2025 with comprehensive production upgrade

By Carrie Xiao
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LONGi’s cell transformation aims to have an annual nameplate capacity of 4.72GW. Image: Pingmei LONGi.

At the beginning of 2025, LONGi and Aiko, two Chinese PV companies that mainly produce back contact (BC) technology, launched new rounds of initiatives.

In early January, the technical transformation project of BC cells by Pingmei LONGi, a LONGi subsidiary, officially started, kickstarting what the company said would eventually be a full shift to producing a second generation of back-contact products. Meanwhile, the first module from Phase I of the 10GW module assembly plant project of Aiko in Jinan city rolled off the production line, marking the formal start of the production of high-efficiency n-type ABC modules.

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The technical transformation project of BC cells by Pingmei LONGi, with a total investment of RMB1.23 billion (US$167 million), will upgrade the original seven production lines and add auxiliary equipment such as power systems. The designed annual nameplate capacity is 4.72GW.

Aiko’s new module assembly plant in Jinan city recently began operations of Phase I. Image: Aiko.

Another company that advocates BC technology, Aiko, saw the successful rollout of the first module of its 10GW high-efficiency solar module project Phase I in Jinan city. As Aiko’s most advanced production base, the Jinan base has an annual nameplate capacity of 30GW n-type ABC cells and modules.

At present, the module plant of the Phase I project of Aiko’s Jinan base has been officially put into operation, and the cell plant has completed its roof capping. It is expected that the Phase I project will be fully put into operation in the second half of 2025.

LONGi plans full shift to BC 2.0

‘Back contact is now the product with the most customer value in the PV field, and is ready for rapid growth,’ LONGi chairman Zhong Baoshen, pictured above, told PV Tech. Image: LONGi.

Last October, LONGi launched the Hi-MO X10 module, the first of its second-generation hybrid passivate back contact products, which it said offered significant performance advantages over the 1.0 models.

Regarding the planning of BC production this year, LONGi chairman Zhong Baoshen stated in an interview with PV Tech that the company had thought a lot in this regard.

“When the Gen II [second generation] of LONGi’s BC modules matures, there will be two options: one is to upgrade all the Gen I BC modules, and the other is to continue to build a large number of plants to produce such advanced products. However, we have noticed that there is already so much capacity and so many facilities in the industry at present. If LONGi were to undertake large-scale construction again, the result would be a large number of redundant plants. It would not only be difficult to operate so many plants in the future; it would also harm every company.

“Therefore, our final decision was to rapidly upgrade the Gen I BC modules across the board, rather than build new production facilities on a large scale. Next, we see that these capacities and technologies all need to be upgraded, so we are also cooperating with our peers such as Yingfa and Pingmei LONGi. LONGi provides the technical solutions, and both parties form joint ventures to enable these plants to be upgraded and renovated, so that they can manufacture the most advanced products to meet customer needs.”

LONGi’s standard mass production lines are in normal operation every day, according to Baoshen, adding that the efficiency of mass-produced cells has reached 26.6% on average, and the maximum module efficiency has reached 24.8%.

“These are the highest efficiencies in the field in the world right now. The yield has reached a very high level and has also met our expected level. We first started with BC Gen I, and now we have entered BC Gen II. From a technical point of view, BC is now the product with the most customer value in the PV field, and is ready for rapid growth,” added Baoshen.

“I think it’s a good time for BC to develop at this point. The last round of TOPCon development made many people suffer a lot, and it also made everyone fully realise that the idea of developing a business relying on imitation and expansion doesn’t work. With such a lesson from the past, we believe that it will be much more rational with BC than TOPCon. At the same time, I think the market financing environment has also changed, and no longer supports the development model of simply scale-expanding in a rush,” said Zhong Baoshen.

According to LONGi Green Energy’s plan, by the end of 2025, the combined capacity of the company’s Gen I and Gen II BC products will be approximately 70GW.

In terms of sales, BC Gen II will account for a third of LONGi’s total in 2025, added Baohsen. It is estimated that by the end of 2026, LONGi’s domestic cell capacity is planned to be fully switched to BC, and BC will account for more than 70% of LONGi’s total sales volume.

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