Exploit Technical potentials to Release Powerful Energy | China High-Efficiency HJT Club Industry Summit Held successfully！

"HJT is Here, and the Future Has Come | As the fourth seminar of 740W+ Club, High-Efficiency HJT 740W+ Club Industry Summit was chaired by Grand Sunergy Tech as the rotating chairmanship, and hosted by 740W+Club, and gathered all HJT giants in the field, conducting in-depth discussion on the hot topics related to the HJT cost reduction and efficiency improvement route, empirical data on power station, HJT cell testing standards and lamination technology, and proposing solutions to the efficiency improvement, cost reduction and reliability issues currently encountered by the HJT industry.

Mr. Gao Fei, President of Grand Sunergy Tech, the rotating chairmanship of the seminar, gave a speech. He first expressed warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to the ten founding members of 740W+ Club and the numerous guests gathered together by the Huangpu River. He said that, more and more central state-owned enterprises have changed from "try HJT" to "all use HJT", and it has become a normal practice to purchase HJT products as a separate bid section. According to statistics, in 2023, a total of 15 HJT module projects were put for bid in China, with a procurement capacity of about 4.24GW, while in the first five months of 2024, the procurement capacity of HJT for bid already reached about 6.15GW. With the coming bids in the second half of 2024 and the next year, HJT modules will take more market share. As the host of this conference and the rotating chairmanship for this month, Grand Sunergy Tech will give full play to its advantages in market expansion and resource integration, and work with the club members to jointly promote scientific and technological innovation and green development of the photovoltaic industry.

Mr. Zhang Zhongwei, President of PV Division of Grand Sunergy Tech, presided over the meeting. The ten founding members clarified the purpose of the club on the basis of the discussions in the previous three round-table meetings: to promote the sustainable development of the photovoltaic industry by jointly building a HJT innovation ecosystem and taking technological innovation as the core driving force.

n order to gain insight into the forefront of the industry and maintain technological foresight, 740W+ Club invited industry giants to conduct in-depth discussions on the market outlook to the HJT industry, analysis of the advantages of HJT technology, cost reduction and efficiency improvement approaches, laminated   cell technology, cell testing standards, and power generation demonstration, further laying the advantageous position of HJT in high-efficiency conversion and technology leadership, boosting China's PV market to get through the "turning point" and go to the path to differentiated breakthrough.

In the speech, Ms. Lv Fang, Secretary General of Photovoltaic Committee, China Green Supply Chain Alliance, and Vice Chairman of the International Energy Agency (IEA) PVPS, said that, by 2028, HJT module shipment penetration rate, the conservative estimate will reach 60%, and the corresponding global HJT module shipments will reach 619GW, while the optimistic estimate will reach an astonishing 903GW.

In a speech on the theme of   "Why choose crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cell technology", Mr. Shen Wenzhong, professor and doctoral supervisor with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, compared in detail the indicators of HJT and the mainstream TOPCon technology, and pointed out that, "heterojunction cell technology is the cornerstone of higher cell efficiency."

University-Longi Green Energy Photovoltaic Technology Joint Laboratory, made a report called "Heterojunction Laminated Cell Technology Progress", and pointed out that, heterojunction is an excellent base layer, and the large-area preparation of HJT-perovskite laminated cells in future should be developed in the direction of higher transparency, good longitudinal conductivity and weak lateral conductivity.

Mr. Zhang Wenbin, CTO of Grand Sunergy Tech and doctor of Shanghai Institute of Silicate, CAS, gave a speech on the heterojunction cost reduction and efficiency improvement route on behalf of the club, he said that,   "the cost of silicon chip plus sizing agent accounts for more than 64% of that of HJT cells. For all crystalline silicon cells, including PERC and TOPCon, the cost of silicon and silver are two insurmountable mountains on the path to cost reduction. The HJT technology, featuring   low temperature process and simplified working procedure, has inherent advantages in the lamination of silicon wafers, low-cost silicon materials, and the replacement of silver with base metals, and is inherently adaptable to these projects. The future cost of HJT cells can be controlled at the ideal level of ¥0.188/W, and this is the confidence for large-scale application of heterojunction in the future.

Mr. Xiong Limin, chief metrology engineer of National Institute of Metrology and director of the Photovoltaic and Optical Communication Laboratory of the Institute of Optics, gave a speech and introduced the various regulations and policies for metrological traceability requirements in China, as well as the common methods and standards for photovoltaic product monitoring applied currently by NIM. In seek to solve the difficulty of HJT products testing and the problem of floating "standard value", NIM specially designed outdoor method and indoor simulation method to obtain more accurate data. It is hoped that "the alliance member manufacturers and NIM will strengthen information   communication with each other, and adjust the testing information timely to make it more in line with the actual application process".

Mr. Wang Dong, president of the Photovoltaic Institute, CCIC, and director of the National Solar Photovoltaic   (Power) Products Testing Center, shared the empirical data from the Hainan bases with the guests. He stressed that, "HJT modules have stronger overall kW power generation capacity, and maintain power generation advantages in various temperature ranges".

As for the attitude toward the parallel coexistence of high-efficiency, average-efficiency and low-efficiency products, Mr. Xu Xiaohua, Chairman and CEO of Huasun Energy, the world's largest HJT manufacturer, said that, from the perspective of customers, what is acceptable to customers are good products, so we produce HJT products for the purpose of making them accepted by customers. The inherent cell characteristics of HJT brings a good process window, so that silver coated copper and 0BB can be developed to the ultimate level. At present, Huasun products generally contain a certain premium on overseas market, and customers will tend to accept the premium if we make them understand that they will benefit more from HJT products with 30-year generation cycle. In addition, we have to accept that customers still need time to pay for good products, so how to solve this problem? The key is to let customers first use the HJT product, so that it is possible for us to promote HJT products in large scale next stage. Huasun will make a major adjustment this year, by dividing our products into three grades: high-efficiency, average-efficiency, and low-efficiency, to meet customers' demands in different application markets. Of course, regardless of the module efficiency, HJT modules' reliability and the ability to increase power generation capacity will not change. In the three product grades, high efficiency is still the characteristics of HJT, we will first obtain orders to run the factory to its full capacity and ensure the operation rate. An adequate number of orders is the precondition for survival, which is of more reference value in the current stage of the photovoltaic industry.

Risen Energy has deployed layouts the technical routes for both TOPCon and HJT in recent years. When being asked why they turned to HJT, and why they believe HJT would win the final victory, Mr. Yang Bochuan, the director of Global Photovoltaic Research Institute of Risen Energy answer that, "technology is neither good nor bad, and we show respect for any technology. Risen Energy currently still focuses on research and development of HJT, mainly because of two core features of HJT modules - low carbon emission value, and low cost per kilowatt hour. Low carbon emission is mainly thanks to the ultra-thin silicon wafers, low temperature process, and bifacial symmetrical structure, while cost per kilowatt hour is diluted by high power generation capacity. According to PVsyst simulation data, the power generation capacity of HJT modules is 5%~6% higher than PERC, and 2%~3% higher than TOPCon. These characteristics of HJT have not been identified only in recent years, but have been embodied in the efforts of Sanyo and Panasonic in the past dozens of years, only HJT technology boasts both of these two advantages.  

With respect to the requirements of central state-owned enterprises for product selection, Mr. Gaofei, President of Grand Sunergy Tech, said that, the five major and six minor central state-owned enterprises have their own demands and quality systems for product selection. Cost performance is a key factor in equipment selection, since customers generally prefer products with high efficiency and high overall yield but at low price, which is also the focus point of HJT products in next stage, and an important topic of our conference;   secondly, product safety and stability is also our high concerns. The 30-years life span of HJT modules and the verification of empirical power stations has proved its high reliability, while the release of the empirical power station data also has verified the excellent performance of HJT modules in power generation. In addition, for projects in specific installation environments, the central state-owned enterprises will develop targeted requirements for product materials and quality. Grand Sunergy Tech won the bid for 540MW Yantai Zhaoyuan HJT offshore photovoltaic project in May. Offshore photovoltaic power projects are subject to much more challenges than onshore ones, so we have strictly upgraded our offshore photovoltaic power products to ensure their good properties resistant to sea wind, salt spray, corrosion, and UV exposure. We also believe that through continuous research and development, we will extend the photovoltaic power to the oceans, and even to any other corner of the world.

Mr. Wang Xin, chairman of Leascend PV, firmly believed that, "we chose HJT technology just because of its simple process, high level of intelligence, low-temperature process and low energy consumption, in addition to the clear approaches to cost reduction and efficiency improvement. With the large-scale mass production of HJT modules and the improvement of supply chain and other supporting conditions, the cost efficiency of HJT cells is growing at an accelerating pace. Looking ahead, we will further strengthen technical collaboration within the club, continue promoting the application and development of new technologies, as well as the improvement and large-scale expansion of the supply chain. In addition, Leascend PV will focus on the basic work in cell technology, and ensure its implementation. We will supply customers with low-cost green electricity and enhance competitive strength by updating technologies, optimizing cell process, and reducing cost in workshop operation management, energy consumption management and manpower management, and make positive contributions to the prosperity and development of HJT industry.

As for the differentiated orientation of wind power and photovoltaic power, Mr. Zhang Xiong, executive deputy general manager of Mingyang Photovoltaic, said that, on the path to continuous technology upgrading and updating, Mingyang Photovoltaic has always shown excellent foresight in each technology choice.   At present, in view of the trend of cost reduction in HJT 0BB, and silver-coasted copper pastes, as well as the technical parameters and power efficiency of actual deliveries, HJT is superior in all aspects except a little higher cost. The cost reduction at the cell side will be expected soon, while the challenge is to cut down the cost in module packaging. We are currently currying out bench-scale trial, and after mass production, module costs are expected to be at the same level as TOPCon. At an overall cost not different largely, customers are inclined to use HJT products, so the HJT route will certainly be the trend.

Talking about the inspiration for ORCA product set and the technological advantages in research and development of offshore photovoltaic power products, Mr. Chu Yifan, the chairman of QW Solar, said that, a knock-out product has to be impressive, distinctive and inspiring in its name. Orca is not the largest-sized animal in ocean, but features teamwork and group hunting, which symbolizes the cooperation among our club members in market and application expansion, so we choose to use this animal name in market promotion. Heterojunction (HJT) performs well in power generation even in extreme environments. For this purpose, we have in-depth cooperation with major universities in research on non-silicon materials such as frame and glass, for example, in joint research and development on improvement to glass self-cleaning performance in view of guano (module heat spots) and microbial growth. In addition, the upstream and downstream supply chain across the industry need to work together to break market barriers and rapidly boost the application in offshore photovoltaic power projects.

Mr. Zhang Jinjian, vice chairman and COO of AKCOME, revealed that, "the crisis arising from the bank run triggered by special treatment burst out recently, and AKCOME is indeed experiencing unprecedented challenges! Our core management team has witnessed the ups and downs in the photovoltaic industry, and experienced various complicated situations and challenges, so we will try our best to properly deal with the current crisis. AKOME is one of the pioneer manufacturers in industrialization of heterojunction (HJT) modules, throughout the process starting from import of assemble lines till the current full domestic production line, it has accumulated extensive experience, having in-depth understanding of the HJT industry and products. HJT is the most cost-effective product throughout the life cycle, and is being accepted by more and more customers. In future we will control the scale, focus on high-efficiency HJT products, uphold a customer-oriented service concept, and continue developing the European and Asia-Pacific markets, and meet customer needs in small scale but precisely."

Mr. Wang Zechun, general manager of Golden Solar, said that, "the photovoltaic industry is fiercely competitive in the recent several years, and even the entire supply chain industry is in competition, while HJT, as a very promising technical route, is expected to hold TOPCon to a draw in cost, and to maintain rapid growth of its market share in the next 3~5 years, so we choose it without hesitation. As both upstream and downstream industries have got mature, and equipment and facility efficiency has been improved at accelerating pace in the recent six months, the potential for cost reduction space is further expanded. Our major power station customers are located in the Northwest of China, and so a deep insight into customer application scenarios will reduce operation and communication costs, and improve customer service efficiency. At present, the industry is under great cash flow pressure from silicon materials to modules, and we need to be more patient and confident, keep a close control on our operating costs, and prepare long-term funds in order to get through the cycle.

Mr. Shen Min, deputy general manager of Winhitech New Energy said that, Zhousan contains numerous islands, and inherently has extremely abundant offshore photovoltaic and wind power resources, and in addition, our major shareholder, China Resources Power, boasts a lot of project resources, which is why Winhitech New Energy, the only out-and-out central state-owned enterprises so far in HJT industry, has chosen HJT. Winhitech is confident in the prospects of HJT technology. From its first launch of HJT cells in Q3 2023 till continuous optimization of the HJT process in Q1 2024, Winhitech has been taking measures to reduce HJT cell cost and improve cell efficiency in an orderly manner. Thin silicon, silver-coated copper, and 0BB process have been realized as planned, and cost reduction and power improvement routes have also met the expectations.

As for the advance planning and layout of laminated cells, Mr. Zhao Xuewen, chairman of Soltrend Energy, believed that, "when choosing a technical route between P-type and N-type, one needs to take long-term consideration, not being shortsighted, but forecasting its technical performance in the following a dozen or even dozens of years. We now choose HJT just because we believe it is the best technology in this era. In transition from N-type single-junction to multi-junction cells, it is necessary to do well in HJT cells, and to invest more time and resources in studying and evaluating reliability. Perovskite cells are currently being developed rapidly, though its reliability problem still need to be solved, and it may take three or five years to mature it. We are now working with equipment manufacturers, research institutes and other parties, and I believe the day when its efficiency reaches above 30% will come soon.

The meeting hit climaxes one after another. After joint release of 740W+ new products by ten manufacturers, the new members initiation rite was started formally. SoleFiori Technology, CNBM Jetion Solar, Shanghai Hency Solar of Shanghai Electric, and Tongwei Co. Ltd. officially joined the high-efficiency heterojunction club with approved applications.

In order to expand innovative ideas of the academic community in focusing on the frontier of photovoltaic and to provide tool references for the sectors to take deep insight into HJT industry, 740W+ Club jointly released an Heterojunction Industry White Paper, which shares with the sectors the experience accumulated across HJT industry in the mass production of heterojunction, such as ultra-thin silicon wafers, low-silver sizing agent, equipment cost, screen printing, target material, and film, from the perspective of industrial development scale, recommendations on technical standards, technical roadmap, production cost decomposition, and customer value, facilitates the continuous cost reduction and efficiency improvement in HJT products and boosts large-scale mass production across the industry.

In addition, the club also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the China   Institute of Metrology and China Testing & Certification International Group Co., Ltd. (CTC) respectively. The three parties will give full play to their respective advantages and conduct cooperation in the professional HJT measurement and calibration capabilities and product testing technology experience, continuously support and improve the performance of HJT-related photovoltaic products and the power generation capacity of the station systems, improve the innovation system in photovoltaic industry, establish industry demonstration standards, jointly boost the upstream and downstream collaboration along the HJT industry chain, and promote the high-quality development of the industry.

In view of the past industry cycle experience, the development of photovoltaic industry will not be achieved overnight, and the current periodic fluctuations may set a base for the high-quality development of photovoltaic enterprises in the future. 740W+ Club shall respond to the call for new productive forces, maintain core competitiveness, accelerate market cultivation through new technology connection, and take advantage of the trend in a new round of energy technology competition.

In this round of summit, 740W+ Club deeply focused on product development, technology introduction, testing and certification, market expansion, user cognition, application scenarios and other fields through high-precision report exchange, high-intensity round-table dialogue, and high-concentration wisdom exchange, and reached a high degree of consensus on the path to HJT cost reduction and efficiency increase, the co-construction of upstream and downstream ecology in the industry, and the comprehensive pre-investment in N-type technology, providing high-quality soil and environment for the HJT camp to accelerate the formation of new productive forces in the future.

HJT is a path which very a few ones set foot on before, but now it is getting wider and wider. Looking ahead to the future, the club needs to stand higher to think about the development of the industry, think about how to uphold a view of overall situation, consolidate the foundation for cooperation and exchange, deepen the path to cost reduction and efficiency improvement, fully demonstrate its resilience through differentiated technology routes, excellent product supply chain management, and establishment of consistent industrial standards, continually enhance the ability to resist risks in the uncertain era, and continuously empower and boost the high-quality and sustainable development of HJT industry.