TrendForce：China Enacts Policies to Stimulate Domestic PV Demand

According to EnergyTrend, the green energy research division of TrendForce,  domestic PV demand in China seemed to be picking up. Research suggests that solar projects with capacity of above one MW are ongoing in northwestern cities in China, such as Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai. Moreover, Jiangsu and Liaoning announced their own subsidy policies, hoping to stimulate the solar demand along with the central government’s subsidy.

The European Commission has decided to conduct the anti-dumping investigation against Chinese module makers. Chinese manufacturers indicate that they have prepared for the worst, and the Chinese government will come up with solutions based on the verdict. According to EnergyTrend analyst Arthur Hsu, increasing domestic solar demand is the goal for both the Chinese government and manufacturers. For example, the installed solar capacity in Xinjiang is approximately 170MW. Judging from the bidding prices, the average price falls at $0.734/Watt, with the lowest price at $0.712/Watt. As for BOS (Balance of System), 20MW project’s average price is at $0.62/Watt, with lowest price at $0.507/Watt and lowest system cost at $1.218/Watt. Module’s bidding prices are 5%-10% lower than the spot prices, which will be appealing to Chinese manufacturers. Related manufacturers are confident about domestic demand’s growth momentum, but are concerned about how electric grid companies’ problems can delay the grid connection process. According to EnergyTrend, certain projects have had their systems installed, but yet to be connected to the grid due to unsolved technical problems.

Spot price downtrend persisted this week, and certain products’ ASP have dipped to the rock bottom. Polysilicon’s lowest price came down to $17.5/kg, which may further plunge, and ASP slid to $20.093/kg, a 0.17% decrease. As for multi-Si wafers, non-standard products were still the mainstream, whose ASP is at $0.75/piece; standard product’s price in China dropped below $1.0/piece, and the ASP in Taiwan slid to $1.02/piece, a 0.39% decrease. As for mono-Si wafers, related firms continued to compete with high-efficiency multi-Si wafers for orders, and the prices continued dipping, with the ASP dropping to $1.298/piece, a 1.74% decrease. As for solar cell and module, non-standard product (type B) became the mainstream in the market, and multi-Si product’s price in China dropped below $0.4/Watt. Cell ASP fell to $0.415/Wtt, a 0.48% decrease. Due to the uncertainty brought by EU’s anti-dumping case, module price stayed flat.

Source：EnergyTrend