China Solar PV News Snippets: LONGi Ranks Among Top 500 Manufacturers & More

LONGi ranks 95^th among top 500 Chinese manufacturers

Vertically integrated solar manufacturer LONGi has announced that it has been ranked among the top 500 Chinese manufacturing companies for the 7^th consecutive year. The list released by the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Entrepreneur Association at the 2024 World Manufacturing Conference held in Hefei ranked LONGi at the 95^th spot. LONGi says this recognition is an acknowledgment of its ‘outstanding performance in advanced manufacturing and technological innovation.’

LONGi highlights a few of its achievements that it believes have earned it this accolade. To name a few: LONGi's Jiaxing base was recognized as a ‘Lighthouse Factory’ by the World Economic Forum in December 2023, thanks to its adoption of advanced technologies like AI, big data, and digital twins. LONGi says it has implemented over 30 digital use cases, advancing from traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing. Owing to its reliability, LONGi claims it has received the highest AAA rating for PV-Tech financing 18 times.

LONGi, along with Golden Solar New Energy and HJT cell manufacturer JP Solar, plans to form a joint venture to produce HBC solar cells (see China Solar PV News Snippets).

GCL’s granular silicon sets new world record for low carbon emissions

Leading polysilicon supplier GCL Technology has announced that the granular silicon produced at its Leshan base has received carbon footprint certification from the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). The company said that the carbon emissions per kilogram of its granular silicon were found to be only 24.913 kg CO₂ equivalent. GCL says this is a significant reduction of 33% compared to the 37.000 kg CO₂ equivalent carbon footprint from its Xuzhou base in 2021, and is a new global industry record. GCL Technology stated that it uses 100% clean energy for granular silicon production at the Leshan base, having already obtained the Clean Energy Consumption Certificate from the Sichuan Electric Power Trading Center.

GCL and the local government of Wujiang recently signed a contract to set up the GCL Smart Energy Global R&D Headquarters in the city (see China Solar PV News Snippets).

Chint establishes JV to invest in residential distributed PV power generation

Chint Group, the parent company of solar PV manufacturer Astronergy, has announced that its controlling subsidiary Zhejiang Taizhou New Energy Co., Ltd. plans to form a joint venture (JV) with investment firm Jiaxing Yizheng Equity Investment Partnership. The JV will focus primarily on investment in residential distributed PV power generation infrastructure projects recommended by Chint Aneng. In July and August this year, Chint also cooperated with China's financial control platform Yuexiu Capital to establish an investment fund partnership, focusing on investment in residential distributed photovoltaic power generation infrastructure projects and supporting energy storage facility projects recommended by Chint Aneng, as well as investment in residential distributed photovoltaic power generation infrastructure projects.

China's 1^st solar thermal storage + PV + wind project fully online

The 100 MW solar thermal storage part of China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) Yumen Solar Thermal Storage + Photovoltaic + Wind Power project has been successfully connected to the grid. With this, China's first project combining solar thermal storage, PV and wind power is now at operational at full capacity. Built for a total investment of RMB 4.9 billion ($680.56 million), the project has a total installed capacity of 700 MW. The 400 MW solar PV and 200 MW wind power projects were grid-connected in December 2022. Once commissioned, the project is said to be able to provide an average annual on-grid electricity of about 1.735 TWh, saving approximately 521,000 tons of standard coal annually and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.353 million tons per year.

JinkoSolar delivers SunTera G2 liquid-cooled ESS to Sunrev

Leading PV and energy storage company JinkoSolar has announced that it has delivered the first phase of the 340 MWh liquid-cooled energy storage system (ESS) contract with Sunrev. The 5 MWh SunTera G2 liquid-cooled ESS, the ESS delivered in the first phase, features the company’s newly developed 314 Ah high-energy-density battery. Jinko says that the system achieves maintains the temperature between batteries within 2°C through precise thermal management control, helping it deliver high power output in the optimal operating temperature range.