Earthquakes Hit Wafer Supply From LONGi & TZS

At a time when the global solar PV industry is going through a major short supply of raw materials that have shot up prices of PV modules, there is another little hiccup on the way, though short term, as 2 major Chinese solar wafer suppliers have had their production facilities hit by the recent earthquakes in China.

In a stock exchange notice, LONGi Green Energy Technology expects the impact to affect its 120 million monocrystalline silicon wafer production for the month of May 2021, translating to about 10% of the company’s monocrystalline silicon wafer output for the month.

Its monocrystalline silicon ingot and wafer production facilities are located in Yunnan and Ningxia Hui Autonomous region near Qinghai, the areas that suffered an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 GW, and 7.4 GW, respectively on May 21, 2021 and May 22, 2021. No casualties were reported and the manufacturer expects to resume production on site in a week’s time.

Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor (TZS) said the Qinghai earthquake on May 22, 2021 had an impact on its wafer manufacturing operations. It expects the impact to affect its output in May 2021 by close to 130 MW.

Currently, the solar PV industry is facing a tight supply of some raw materials, primarily polysilicon, which is not likely to resolve any time soon, at least not before further production capacity comes online. In May 2021, Chinese polysilicon manufacturer Daqo New Energy said it sees tight supply lasting till mid-2022 (see Daqo New Energy Pockets $256 Million Revenues In Q1/2021).

LONGi Solar presented about their latest PV panel developments at TaiyangNews virtual conference on Very High-Power Solar Modules held on May 17 & 18, 2021 (see Day 1: TaiyangNews Very High-Power Solar Modules Conference).