Photovoltaic production close to breakeven point

Industry insiders pointed out that the severe overcapacity has led to the current production of some small enterprises close to the break-even point, and the likelihood of being merged or closed next year will increase. In the next two to three years, there will be a round of industry reshuffle in the photovoltaic industry, and more than 30% of photovoltaic companies, especially small ones, will face the fate of being eliminated. Experts believe that companies are too eager to expand their scale and production capacity and neglect the study of core technologies.

In the past few months, more than 50 solar energy companies have fallen and one-third of them are in semi-discontinued state. This is the latest news. For the industry’s oversupply of excess global PV capacity, analyst Yan Rui of So – larbuzz, a US solar market research organization, commented on this at a recent seminar: “Because the growth rate has dropped too fast, it has been extremely hot from last year. Suddenly it was extremely cold now. Everyone felt as if winter had arrived."

Recently, according to the China Non-Ferrous Metals Association Silicon Branch, it is estimated that the current battery inventory will be at least 10GW or more. The latest statistics from the authority's solarbuzz show that the demand in the European market this year has decreased by 20% compared with the same period of last year. If domestic manufacturers are shipped according to the indicators at the beginning of the year, they are expected to exceed the end market demand of 4.4 GW. The agency anticipates that if the production cannot be effectively controlled, the inventory of components may soar to 22GW by the end of next year.

In China, experts believe that one of the major problems faced in the development of the photovoltaic industry is the over-pursuit of speed and neglect of the quality of development. Most companies focus on expanding the scale and production capacity of enterprises, ignoring the research on core technologies and often falling into Big but not strong. In addition, most of the domestic photovoltaic companies use price as a means of competition to expand the market by continuously expanding the scale of production and reducing the prices of photovoltaic modules. This has caused excess capacity in the PV market this year. In the next two to three years, there will be a round of industry reshuffle in the photovoltaic industry, and more than 30% of photovoltaic companies, especially small ones, will face the fate of being eliminated.

Taking Zhejiang as an example, according to reports, at present, there are about 205 photovoltaic companies in Zhejiang, of which about 110 are established after September 2010, and the scale is below 100MW.

Shen Hongwen, a researcher in the new energy industry at China Investment Advisors, said, “The photovoltaic industry has developed rapidly and blindly expanded. A large number of companies have entered this industry, and the products are mostly concentrated in the lower threshold of PV modules, resulting in excess capacity and limited development of the industry.”

Insiders pointed out that serious overcapacity has led to the current production of some small businesses close to the break-even point, the possibility of being merged or closed next year. In the next two to three years, there will be a round of industry reshuffle in the photovoltaic industry, and more than 30% of photovoltaic companies, especially small ones, will face the fate of being eliminated.