China PV News Snippets

TaiyangNews Conference on Cell Production Equipment & Processing Materials to take place tomorrow; J.S Machine signs equipment order with Tongwei; JA Solar to raise RMB 8.9 billion; Drinda signs long-term silicon wafer order; Haitai Solar net profit at RMB 118 million in 2022.

Just one day left for TaiyangNews Conference: TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Solar Cell Production Equipment & Processing Materials will be taking place tomorrow. The Conference will begin with a Welcome Address by Michael Schmela, Managing Director, TaiyangNews. Post that, keynote speaker Dr Balachander Krishnan, Chief Operating Officer of Shirdi Sai Electricals Limited will speak on the topic: Selection Criteria for Key Cell Production Equipment. This will be followed by presentations by different eminent speakers. The Conference will end with a panel discussion on the topic: Solutions for Setting Up Solar Cell Manufacturing Globally. The participants will be Dr Balachander Krishnan, Chief Operating Officer of Shirdi Sai Electricals Limited; Dr Wei-Min Li CTO from Leadmicro; Dr Christian Buchner, Vice President of BU Photovoltaics SCHMID Group; and Dr. Dirk Habermann, CTO & Founder of H2GEMINI. The discussion will be moderated by Michael Schmela, Managing Director, TaiyangNews. The Conference on 28 February 2023 will take place from 09.30-13.30 CET. Do join us. Registrations are for free. To register, click here.

J.S.Machine to sell production equipment to Tongwei Solar: Equipment manufacturing enterprise J.S.Machine announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary SC-SOLAR will sell solar module assembly lines, packaging lines and laminator equipment, lamination frame automatic reflow lines, stitch welding machines, and typesetting machines to integrated solar PV manufacturer from China, Tongwei Solar. The total contract value will be about RMB 1.3 billion ($0.19 billion) (tax included). During the TaiyangNews Solar Module Innovations Conference 2023, Tongwei, traditionally a silicon and cell maker, said it expands at record speed into solar module production with a target of 80 GW annual capacity by 2023, up from 14 GW in 2022 (see Exciting Updates Reported At TaiyangNews Innovations 2023 Conference).

JA Solar to raise funds to increase production capacity: Solar PV panel manufacturer JA Solar said in an announcement that it will be raising funds to the tune of RMB 8.9 billion ($1.28 billion) by issuing A-share convertible corporate bonds. The raised funds will be used towards:

• Baotou JA Solar (Phase III) 20 GW crystal wafer facility
• 10 GW high-efficiency cell and 5 GW high-efficiency module facility
• 10 GW high-efficiency solar cell facility

Some money will be used towards working capital as well. In January, JA Solar had announced an agreement with Ordos government in Inner Mongolia for RMB 40 billion investment to build a vertically integrated solar PV production facility – from polysilicon to solar module capacity – in China's Inner Mongolia (see JA Solar Announces RMB 40 Billion Investment For New Fab).

Drinda signs long-term silicon wafer order:  Drinda announced that it has signed a silicon wafer procurement deal with Shangji Automation and its subsidiary Hongyuan New Material. The duration of the wafer supply deal is from 2023 to 2025 and the transaction amount will be about RMB 5.9 billion ($0.85 billion) (including tax). As the calculation is based on the current market price, this amount may be subject to changes if there is fluctuation in the prices.

Haitai Solar net profit at RMB 118 million in 2022: Releasing its 2022 performance report, green energy company Haitai Solar said that it has achieved an operating income of RMB 6.3 billion ($0.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 41.04%. The net profit was at RMB 118 million ($16.9 million), a year-on-year decrease of 19.45%. The company cited the below reasons for the decrease in profit:

• Due to technical transformation and upgrading, the production capacity and sales volume of the company's module production line increased. But at the same time, with the increase in raw material and module prices, operating income also increased year-on-year
• Also, affected by COVID-19 in Hebei, the company's operating rate in the fourth quarter was insufficient. To add to this, the price of main raw materials continued to rise in 2022, among which the price of solar cells prices also increased. This impacted module sales and the gross profit margin of power station installations, resulting in a year-on-year decrease in the company's net profit in 2022