Against the backdrop of sustained and fierce industry competition, the 'chasers' of cross-border photovoltaics have begun to retreat in bulk over the past two years.

According to incomplete statistics from reporters, at least 108 listed companies have announced their entry into the photovoltaic industry since 2022; so far, at least 20 companies have publicly announced their failure and have been caught in the vortex of delisting, bankruptcy, project termination, debt lawsuits, etc.

For example, in July, ST Lingda, ST Aikon, and Jingang Solar, three cross-border players, announced that their companies have begun bankruptcy reorganization or pre-reorganization; in August, Huadong Heavy Machinery announced the termination of photovoltaic project investment, and Madictech announced the sale of photovoltaic assets acquired in early 2023.

On the evening of August 13, there were two big news in the photovoltaic industry:

First, another large trade has been gained in overseas markets. A consortium consisting of China Energy Engineering Corporation and Saudi parties signed an EPC contract for the PIF Fourth Haden2GW photovoltaic project, with a contract amount of about 0.972 billion US dollars, equivalent to approximately 6.979 billion RMB;

Second, Tongwei Co., Ltd., the leader in the industry, will acquire a controlling stake of no less than 51% in Runyang through cash capital increase and other means, with a total transaction amount not exceeding 5 billion yuan. In the opinion of industry insiders, the frequent overseas victories of Chinese photovoltaic companies have promoted the entire industrial chain to go overseas, achieved a transformation from product output to advanced manufacturing capability and technology standard output, further upgraded towards industrial globalization and manufacturing localization, fully demonstrating the competitiveness and competitive advantages of the industry.

In addition, domestic leading companies have begun to integrate the industry, and the overall recovery of the photovoltaic industry is expected to accelerate. Everbright Securities pointed out that at present, the photovoltaic industry is plagued by overcapacity and fierce competition. Since the beginning of this year, relevant departments have begun to promote industry capacity reduction, and with the guidance of a heavyweight conference, the photovoltaic industry is expected to accelerate capacity reduction, especially in eliminating backward production capacity, and promote the industry's healthy development. Leading companies with leading technology are expected to benefit.

Shanxi Securities stated that in the photovoltaic industry, BC and HJT continue to advance, and non-silicon costs are approaching TOPCon. Under the background of oversupply of overall production capacity, new technologies and differentiated competition are the key to breaking the homogenization competition. 0BB technology can reduce the cost of solar cells in four ways: canceling the use of pure silver paste for the main grid can reduce the use of TOPCon silver by more than 10%, and HJT pure silver paste can be reduced by 20-30mg/plate; reducing the cost of fine grids; promoting the thinning of silicon wafers to 100μm or even lower; or reducing the silk screen printers in the second and fourth passages. Granular silicon has the advantages of low cost, low energy consumption, high quality, and low carbon, which enables it to continuously increase its market share under the global carbon reduction trend and the current cost-based competition pattern.

Photovoltaic industry chain-related enterprises:

Xinte Energy (01799), GCL Tech (03800), Flat Glass (06865), Xinyi Glass (00868), irico newenergy (00438)