As the solar PV industry is on fast track for expansion amid global efforts to curb carbon emissions, the rising prices and shortage of polysilicon have become a stumbling block. To overcome this problem, module enterprises have found ways to secure their supply of polysilicon.
LONGi
On September 25, 2020, LONGi announced that it had reached a cooperation intention on the company’s participation in Sichuan Yongxiang new energy Co., Ltd. and Yunnan Tongwei High Purity Crystalline Silicon Co., Ltd. and establishing a long-term and stable supply-demand relationship of polysilicon with Tongwei.
Yongxiang New Energy is a joint venture between LONGi and Yongxiang, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tongwei, with LONGi holding 15% of the shares and Yongxiang holding 85%. The annual production capacity of Yongxiang New Energy phase I high-purity crystalline silicon project is 35,000 tons. Tongwei plans to expand its production capacity to 75,000 tons.
Yunnan Tongwei, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yongxiang, is the implementation subject of the 40,000 ton high-purity crystalline silicon project of Tongwei. LONGi will hold 49% of Yunnan Tongwei’s shares after the equity participation.
Trina Solar
On November 17, 2020, Yongxiang and Tongwei Solar, both subsidiaries of Tongwei Group, signed joint venture agreements with Trina Solar on jointly investing in projects and procurement. The projects include a high purity silicon project with an annual output of 40,000 tons, a high efficiency crystalline silicon cell project with an annual output of 15 GW, etc.
JA Solar & XINTE Energy
On June 18, 2021, TBEA announced that its subsidiary Xinte Energy has signed agreements with Jinko Solar and JA Solar to invest in a high-purity polysilicon project in Inner Mongolia with an annual output of 100,000 tons per year. After the increase of capital, Jinko and JA Solar will hold 9% of the company in Inner Mongolia respectively.
Other enterprises, like Risen and Chint have also made deployments in silicon manufacturing.
