In a live broadcast of a leaders’ dialogue, Zhong Baoshen, Chairman of Longi Green Energy, stated that BC products will occupy half of the photovoltaic (PV) industry in the next 2-3 years.
During the live broadcast, Chen Gang, Chairman of Aiko Energy, first pointed out that BC is the best technology in the crystalline silicon era. He emphasized this from two points: firstly, only BC technology can approach the theoretical limit efficiency of monocrystalline silicon; secondly, BC’s silver-free feature can significantly save precious metals and does not require any rare elements, effectively reducing non-silicon costs.
Zhong Baoshen agreed completely. He noted that the essence of PV is to serve as basic energy to meet the future electricity demand of the national economy, thus it needs to be sufficiently prevalent and affordable, which has always been the pursuit of higher efficiency, lower costs, and longer-term reliability in PV. BC has many structural process steps and high precision requirements, but challenges such as cost reduction have been overcome one by one. In terms of both customer value and industry chain value, BC is the most cost-effective and competitive technological route.
When discussing the promotion of BC technology in the industry, Zhong Baoshen believed that the development of the PV industry cannot be separated from innovation. Although the industry faces some challenges, from the perspectives of efficiency, cost, and reliability, only driving technological development through innovation can bring new vitality to the PV industry. During the live broadcast, he revealed that future research and innovation in BC technology will continue in passivation, damage reduction, and laser refinement. Currently, Longi’s pilot line is repeatedly tackling these challenges, and even components are being tested. The second-generation products already produced have significantly improved efficiency compared to TOPCon components. In terms of costs, Longi has made significant reserves in precious metal substitution, which can significantly enhance BC technology’s competitiveness.
“During this year’s SNEC exhibition, at a customer exchange meeting in Jiaxing, I made a bet with everyone that BC will occupy half of the PV industry in 2029. From the perspective of a company’s commercial interests, I would prefer it to reach half of the market later to maximize commercial value. However, from a realistic perspective and the law of development, I believe that the era of BC will arrive earlier, around 2027-2028,” Zhong Baoshen stated confidently.
Everyone agreed that BC technology belongs to both the PV industry and humanity. From the perspective of the BC technology ecosystem, upstream and downstream collaboration is necessary to establish standards and simultaneously reduce promotion costs and customer usage costs, so that technology can benefit society faster.
Zhong Baoshen believed that innovative projects jointly discussed and developed by upstream and downstream companies can effectively accelerate the speed of technology implementation. Longi has had many exploratory experiences and lessons in this regard.
For the orderly development of BC technology, intellectual property rights must be respected. In the future, Longi will actively apply for intellectual property rights and patents, and will also adopt a more open attitude to actively cooperate with upstream and downstream companies to promote industry development. He appealed, “Based on laws, regulations, and commercial principles, as well as reasonable business plans, I hope everyone will work together to promote the healthy development of the BC industry. At the same time, we should fully summarize experiences and learn from lessons from the past development of the PV industry to steer the industry towards a healthy future.”
