With 18.21 GW solar module shipments, Chinese solar PV producer JinkoSolar has made it to the top of InfoLink Consulting's Global PV Module Shipment Ranking for H1/2022, replacing the previous year's top seed LONGi (see LONGi & Tongwei Top PV InfoLink's H1/2021 Ranking).
In H1/2022, Trina Solar shipped 18.05 GW, LONGi 18.02 GW, followed by JA Solar's 15.70 GW while JinkoSolar's numbers reflected an annual increase of 113% (see JinkoSolar's Q2/22 Shipments Grow 102 Percent). These numbers have been announced by the companies themselves in their financial results.
What makes these top 4 companies strengthen their hold is the sheer size of their business, cost advantages with production at economies of scale and overseas pipelines.
Canadian Solar, Risen Energy, Chint New Energy, First Solar and Hanwha Q Cells took remaining spots from 5 to 10, in that order on the list. Annual module shipments for top 4 companies were above 15 GW each, for those after top 5 ranged between 3.5 GW to 8.7 GW and for those under top 10 the numbers slipped to about 2 GW to 3 GW.
According to InfoLink, previously PV InfoLink, top 10 companies on the list shipped about 101.7 GW in H1/2022 increasing their share by 45% YoY, accounting for some 80% to 90% of the demand. Top 4 manufacturers alone represented about 60% to 70% of this volume.
Excluding First Solar, remaining manufacturers in the top 10 sold large size modules namely M10 or 182mm and G12 or 210mm, representing about 80% of the shipments out of which M10 accounted for the bulk.
Overall performance of the companies different in Q1 than in Q2 this year since Q1 for most was underlined by high prices and high costs hence their shipments were lower. Demand grew in Q2 with the necessity for energy transition and high overseas demand hence compared with Q1, shipments grew by 36% in Q2.
"Among them, looking at the regional distribution of shipments, the share of manufacturers with high overseas dependence in China has been reduced to only 20-30%, and the share of many manufacturers in Europe has increased," share InfoLink analysts.
In H1/2022, top 4 companies shipped an average of about 17.5 GW while their annual target is 40 GW or more for 2022. This means the average single-quarter output in H2/2022 will reach close to 8.5 GW to 12.0 GW. Nonetheless, analysts caution that supply chain challenges are likely to ensure prices peak in Q3/2022 which may impact profits and shipments for vertically integrated manufacturers.
InfoLink had earlier placed Tongwei, Aiko, Runergy, Solar Space and Jietai in the top 5 solar cell module shipment companies list for H1/2022, respectively. All 5 companies together shipped 59 GW of cells in the reporting period with a 60% annual increase.
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