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Bifacial Solar Panels Industry News Summary: Driven by Technological Breakthroughs and Market Boom
2023-11-22
In 2023, with the continuous advancement of the global "dual carbon" goals, the photovoltaic industry entered a new stage of high-quality development. Bifacial solar panels, relying on their core advantages of "bifacial power generation and high energy efficiency", became the core focus of the industry's technological iteration and market expansion. Throughout the year, the industry showed a development trend of "accelerated technological breakthroughs, expanded production capacity, and diversified application scenarios". Leading enterprises accelerated their layout, and policy dividends were continuously released, promoting bifacial solar panels to achieve a leap from "niche products" to "mainstream choices". Relevant technological and market achievements attracted widespread attention in the industry.
Major Year-End Breakthrough: Aikosolar Launches the World's First High Bifaciality ABC Module, Breaking Industry Technological Bottlenecks
On December 20, 2023, Aikosolar held a themed new product launch conference "Infinite Innovation, High Efficiency and Bifacial" in Beijing, officially launching the world's first high bifaciality ABC (All Back Contact) module - the "Stellar Series". This completely broke the industry's inherent perception of low bifaciality of ABC modules and injected new momentum into the technological upgrading of bifacial solar panels. Industry experts such as Professor Shen Hui, Director of the Yangtze River Delta Solar PV Technology Innovation Center, and relevant responsible persons of TÜV Rheinland Greater China attended the launch conference to witness this technological breakthrough together.
It is reported that the newly launched "Stellar Series" bifacial modules are based on Aikosolar's independently developed N-type ABC technology, with a bifaciality rate as high as 70%. At the same time, they have five core technological advantages: higher output power, optimization of partial shadow occlusion, high-temperature suppression, better temperature coefficient, and higher bifaciality. They can effectively improve the comprehensive power generation of large-scale power stations and help customers achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement. This series of products is custom-designed for different scenarios. Among them, the "Polaris" product is suitable for ground power station scenarios, which can cope with the problem of uneven irradiation caused by limited land resources and complex terrain; the "Sirius" product is specially designed for tidal flat and water surface scenarios, adopting innovative high water resistance packaging technology, anti-corrosion frames and waterproof cap design, overcoming pain points such as salt spray and bird droppings occlusion, and reducing cleaning frequency and operation and maintenance costs.
At the launch conference, the person in charge of TÜV Rheinland Greater China Solar Energy and R&D Technology Center officially awarded TÜV and MCS certificates to Aikosolar, marking that the safety and reliability of this series of bifacial modules have obtained international authoritative certification. Chen Gang, Chairman of Aikosolar, said that as the ultimate technology for single-junction batteries, ABC technology has achieved a comprehensive subversion from silicon wafers to modules. The launch of this high bifaciality product will further improve Aikosolar's ABC product matrix, covering the full-scenario needs of centralized power stations, industrial and commercial sectors, and household use.
2023 Market Penetration Rate Exceeds 40%, Bifacial Solar Panels Become a New Growth Engine for the Photovoltaic Industry
According to industry statistics, the global market penetration rate of bifacial solar panels exceeded 40% in 2023. The bifacial module production capacity of domestic leading enterprises such as Longi, JinkoSolar, and Trina Solar accounted for more than 60%. The advantages of technological maturity and large-scale production were gradually highlighted, driving the industry into a period of industrialization boom. The global production capacity of bifacial modules was about 320GW throughout the year, with an output of 280GW, a year-on-year increase of 35%, and a demand of about 240GW, showing a pattern of strong supply and demand.
From the perspective of market structure, bifacial solar panels showed a differentiated characteristic of "shortage of high-end products and abundance of ordinary products" in 2023. Due to mature technology and low cost, ordinary PERC bifacial modules experienced periodic overcapacity, with prices dropping from 1.7 yuan/W at the beginning of the year to 1.1-1.2 yuan/W at the end of the year; while N-type bifacial modules such as TOPCon and HJT were in strong demand due to high efficiency and large power generation gain, with a production capacity utilization rate of over 90% and prices maintained at 1.3-1.5 yuan/W. The N-type bifacial module orders of leading enterprises have been scheduled until 2025.
At the policy level, countries around the world continued to increase support for the development of bifacial solar panels. China's "14th Five-Year Plan" energy plan clearly proposed to improve photovoltaic conversion efficiency, the EU's "REPowerEU" plan listed bifacial modules as a cost-effective photovoltaic technology, and the tax credit policy of the US Inflation Reduction Act further stimulated the market demand for bifacial modules. In the first half of 2023, the scale of centralized procurement by domestic central and state-owned enterprises continued to expand. In the photovoltaic module centralized procurement of enterprises such as China National Coal Group, State Energy Group, and China Huadian, the proportion of bifacial modules increased significantly, demonstrating the market's recognition of their technology and economy.
Application Scenarios Continue to Expand, BIPV Becomes a New Blue Ocean for Bifacial Solar Panels
In 2023, the application scenarios of bifacial solar panels accelerated from traditional ground power stations to industrial and commercial distributed, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) and other fields, among which BIPV became the most potential growth engine. According to research data, the global BIPV market size reached 120 billion US dollars in 2023. Among them, due to the back side's ability to use reflected light from building walls, the power generation efficiency of bifacial modules is 20%-40% higher than that of traditional BIPV modules, showing significant advantages in high-rise buildings, glass curtain walls and other scenarios.
In the domestic market, driven by the "county-wide promotion" distributed photovoltaic policy, industrial plants and public buildings have become the focus of BIPV applications. Due to the large roof area and high reflectivity of industrial plant BIPV, the backside power generation gain of bifacial modules can reach 35%, and it can offset part of the building material costs, with a penetration rate of 15% in 2023; public buildings such as schools, hospitals, and commercial complexes combine bifacial modules with building curtain walls and sunshades to achieve the dual functions of "power generation + building materials", which not only meets the green building standards but also reduces building energy consumption.
In the international market, regional demand showed diversified characteristics. Driven by the "Green New Deal", Europe has strong demand for BIPV and industrial and commercial roof distributed systems, with the proportion of bifacial modules reaching 55%; the import volume of bifacial modules in the North American market increased by 50% year-on-year in 2023, with Chinese modules accounting for 65%; the Middle East regions such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are rich in solar resources, with the penetration rate of bifacial modules in large-scale ground power stations reaching 70%, and they tend to adopt 210mm large-size bifacial modules to reduce the cost of electricity per kWh.
Diversified Technological Routes, Accelerated Industry Shuffling Highlight Advantages of Leading Enterprises
In 2023, the technological routes of bifacial solar panels continued to iterate, with PERC, TOPCon, HJT, IBC and other routes advancing side by side, each achieving breakthroughs. Among them, relying on mature production processes and cost advantages, PERC technology still occupies a dominant position in the market. In 2023, the efficiency of mass-produced bifacial modules generally reached 22%-23%, and the backside power generation gain was stable at 25%-30%; TOPCon technology developed rapidly, with mass production efficiency exceeding 23.5%-24.5% and bifaciality rate increased to more than 85%, becoming the key direction for leading enterprises to expand production; HJT technology, with its symmetrical structure and high open-circuit voltage characteristics, performed excellently in the field of bifacial modules, with mass production efficiency stable at around 25%, especially suitable for the needs of BIPV scenarios for thinness, lightness and aesthetics.
At the same time, perovskite tandem batteries, as the core direction of the next generation of bifacial modules, made significant progress. In 2023, the laboratory efficiency reached 33.5%, the bifaciality rate could reach more than 90%, and it had excellent low-light performance, suitable for power generation in morning and evening scattered light and cloudy weather. Leading enterprises such as Longi and GCL have built 10MW-level pilot lines, laying the foundation for subsequent mass production.
In terms of industry shuffling, the prices of main materials in the photovoltaic industry chain dropped sharply in 2023, and periodic overcapacity triggered intensified industry competition. "Low price" is no longer the core concern of end customers, and the full-life cycle value has become the key to selection. Leading enterprises maintained premium growth by virtue of their advantages in technology, production capacity and brand, while small and medium-sized enterprises were gradually eliminated, and the industry concentration was further improved. According to data from the National Energy Administration, in the photovoltaic module centralized procurement scale announced in June 2023, the scale of bids awarded by central and state-owned enterprises accounted for 84%, and they preferred high-efficiency bifacial module products from leading enterprises.
In general, 2023 was a year of leapfrog development for the bifacial solar panel industry. Technological breakthroughs, policy support and market demand formed a joint force, promoting bifacial modules from technological innovation to large-scale application. In the future, with the landing of new technologies such as perovskite and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, bifacial solar panels will continue to lead the photovoltaic industry towards a more efficient and diversified direction, providing important support for the realization of global zero-carbon goals.
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