Solar manufacturer Xinyi Solar is to diversify into polysilicon production, launching a joint venture to establish a production base in Yunnan, China, with an initial capacity of 60,000 metric tons (MT).
Hanwha Solutions Corporation has agreed to buy a 16.67% stake in Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon in a deal worth around US$160 million, with the South Korean chemical company looking to reopen REC Silicon’s 20,000MT polysilicon factory in the US
Chinese energy firm TBEA is planning to invest RMB 6 billion (US$938 million) to set up a silicon production facility with an annual output of 400,000MT in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
‘Solar Module Super League’ manufacturer JinkoSolar is to invest RMB450 million (US$70.3 million) in Tongwei Solar subsidiary Sichuan Yongxiang Energy Technology to help finance a 100,000MT “high-purity” polysilicon facility.
Chinese power restrictions are likely to change in Q1 next year and will consider the power necessity and industrial demand of certain regions. Nonetheless, polysilicon prices will remain high well into next year and could rise even further. And, distributed solar is the future of solar PV generation in China. Exclusive to PV Tech Premium users.
Polysilicon prices have risen by 8.6% to RMB230/kg (US$35.3/kg) this week following a power crisis in China that has seen the government order silicon metal producers to curb their operations.
As much as 191GW of new solar PV is expected to be installed this year – up by a third on last year’s deployment figure – despite polysilicon and module prices remaining high into 2022, BloombergNEF has said.
Around 400GW of nameplate module manufacturing capacity and nearly 325GW of nameplate cell capacity could be online by the end of 2021, new forecasts from advisory firm Clean Energy Associates (CEA) has said.
