In 2021, China's photovoltaic product exports exceeded 28.4 billion taole, an increase of 43.7%, an increase of 14 percentage points compared with 2019.

The module shipments of China's top ten photovoltaic companies already account for more than 75% of the global market share. In 2021, China's photovoltaic power generation added 54.88gw, continuing to rank first in the world, accounting for nearly 40% of the world's newly installed capacity.

At the same time, almost all equipment, key raw materials and core technologies in China's photovoltaic industry have been independently controlled. We control almost the entire supply chain of the global photovoltaic industry. Eight of the top 10 companies in the world are from China.

From a technical point of view, our photovoltaic industrialization technology is already at the world's advanced level and has begun to accelerate its deployment to cutting-edge technologies. It is this technological leadership and control of the entire industry chain that enable China to occupy a leading position in the international competition in the new energy field.

Absolute advantage, and this is why the West dares to impose restrictions on China's chip industry, but has been reluctant to take action on China's photovoltaic industry.

----However, 18 years ago, or even 10 years ago, China's photovoltaic industry was not in such a state of looking at the small mountains at a glance. Even in the face of Western trade barriers, the industry was once on the verge of annihilation of the entire industry.

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It all started from a meeting many years ago.

In 1996, the World Solar Energy Summit was held in Zimbabwe, and photovoltaic power generation began to enter China's horizons. At this time, there were still 76.56 million people without electricity in our country. These people without electricity were concentrated in the northwest region, far away from the power grid, with small loads and scattered

wide.

Among them, the proportion of households without electricity in the Tibet area is as high as 78% due to geographical reasons. If this problem is solved by extending the power grid, it will take at least twenty years.

Photovoltaic power generation can reverse all this.

In the second year after the Zimbabwe Conference, China began to implement the Bright Project, which established thousands of independent power generation systems in the west through solar and wind energy and other power generation methods, solving the power problem of more than 700 villages in the west.

The Guangming Project's demand for photovoltaics created China's first generation of photovoltaic companies. Those Chinese photovoltaic companies that later entered the world stage all started in small villages in the west.

However, unlike other industries that endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, China's photovoltaic companies have had a dazzling start.

In 2004, under the pressure of a series of energy issues and environmental protection judicial investigations, Western countries began to pursue energy transformation, and wind power and photovoltaics became the obvious choices. This year is known as the first year of the photovoltaic industry.

Stimulated by policies from many countries, China's photovoltaic industry has entered its first explosive period.

Contrary to many people's perceptions, photovoltaic companies are not actually a technology-intensive industry in the strict sense, because the assembly of silicon wafers and the integration of battery components were actually a labor process in the absence of automated production in the past.

Intensive industry.

Therefore, at that time, Western countries gradually moved the most energy-consuming and polluting aspects of the photovoltaic industry, including silicon purification, smelting, and assembly and production that require a large amount of labor, to China.

From 2004 to 2007, in just 4 years, the cell module production capacity of China's photovoltaic industry jumped from less than 100MW to 1088MW, making China the world's largest photovoltaic cell manufacturing country.

At that time, Suntech Power, China's leading photovoltaic production company, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange only the second year after the photovoltaic industry exploded, becoming the first Chinese company to be listed on the U.S. main board.

At this time, China's photovoltaic industry had many companies, forming the "Chinese Solar Army" internationally, which was one of the most glorious moments for China's photovoltaics.

However, when the entire industry is immersed in the impulse of expansion and fantasy of wealth, the Chinese people are immersed in another "China's first", and China is about to achieve overtaking in the field of new energy, little do they know that the entire industry is already brewing a huge crisis

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The cause of this crisis was precisely the “three heads outside” structure of the photovoltaic industry at that time.

In terms of industry, the manufacturing of silicon crystals, slicing and other high-tech manufacturing joints are still dominated by Western companies. China's rapidly growing photovoltaic module assembly industry and huge production capacity have to rely on high-priced imported silicon wafers, but they can only earn a meager profit from them.

profit.

In terms of technology, key equipment such as silicon smelting equipment, silicon crystal smelting furnaces, and slicers, key supporting raw materials such as silver slurry and polishing agents, and key electronic devices such as inverters are still monopolized by foreign suppliers, and are imposed on China.

Strict technical blockade and patent protection have been implemented.

At the market level, because China's new energy market was still in its infancy at that time, overseas sellers almost monopolized the sales channels of China's photovoltaic companies - the photovoltaic equipment we manufactured could actually only be sold abroad.

Under such a situation, if there is any slight disturbance in the international market, the entire enterprise will face the risk of annihilation.

It is a pity that China's industrial circles did not realize the seriousness of the problem at that time, and instead, international capital seized the opportunity.

Due to the explosive growth of China's photovoltaic module production capacity, from 2004 to 2007, the spot price of polysilicon in the international market skyrocketed from 40 Torres per kilogram to 200 Torres.

In fact, at this time, the market had already sounded the alarm for China's photovoltaic industry.

However, at this time, Chinese photovoltaic companies had been dazzled by the victory. Investments that were supposed to carry out technological transformation and industrial upgrading were once again used to expand production capacity. A large number of photovoltaic companies even borrowed money to expand production.

Of course, with the price of polysilicon soaring and the industry expanding explosively, some Chinese companies are aware of the crisis and the importance of mastering upstream polysilicon manufacturing. Some companies have begun to invest heavily in the upstream polysilicon industry in an attempt to open up the industrial supply chain to cope with the situation.

possible crisis.

However, the shortcomings of key equipment and technology accumulation were clearly exposed at this time.

A large amount of equipment and technology patents need to be purchased from foreign companies and even competitors, and the prices offered by the other parties are naturally sky-high. Coupled with the huge capital costs and long construction cycles, this has resulted in the short term investment by Chinese photovoltaic companies.

It is extremely difficult for upstream polysilicon to make a profit, and it has even fallen deeper and deeper into a debt black hole.

After the outbreak of the European debt crisis in 2010, large-scale public debt defaults broke out in many Western countries. The photovoltaic power generation field also became the hardest hit area by default. The photovoltaic market, which has always relied on government subsidies to develop rapidly, suddenly stagnated. Not only did nearly 30% of the photovoltaic

The pre-construction plan for the power station was cancelled, subsidies for photovoltaic power generation also began to be slashed, and the price of photovoltaic modules plummeted by 70%.

On one side, the prices of raw materials skyrocketed, while on the other side, the prices of finished products plummeted. Under siege from both sides, the profits of Chinese photovoltaic companies, which relied on cheap labor, were eventually taken away by financiers thousands of miles away.

However, the hunt for China Photovoltaic companies is far from over. In this year, the globalization system that China Photovoltaics once harbored began to collapse.

In order to get out of the financial crisis, the West has proposed the national strategy of "re-industrialization", and the return and development of the new energy industry has naturally become a top priority. The banner of trade protectionism has begun to be raised high again in the West.

In November 2011, the U.S. Ministry of Commerce officially launched an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation into China's imported solar cells (panels), and rworld requested the U.S. government to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties ranging from 49.88% to 249.96% on such exported products from China.

For a time, almost all Chinese photovoltaic companies with "three heads outside" collapsed, and their sales channels were cut off, which dealt a fatal blow to the Chinese photovoltaic industry.

On March 18, 2013, China's largest photovoltaic company at the time, Suntech Power, declared bankruptcy. The second largest photovoltaic company, Yingli Group, had a total debt ratio of close to 80%, accounts receivable reaching 190 million yuan, and multiple production lines.

Production is suspended, and the company's life hangs on a thread.

The U.S. investment bank mg mentioned in a report at the time that the cumulative debt of China's top 10 photovoltaic module manufacturers reached 17.5 billion yuan, and the entire industry was on the verge of collapse.

China's photovoltaic exports dropped sharply from nearly 25 billion in 2011 to less than 13 billion, a drop of nearly 50%. It can be said that the entire China's photovoltaic industry has paid a heavy price for its industrial model with three heads outside.

However, it was precisely after this disaster that the Chinese photovoltaic industry and Chinese officials finally understood thoroughly that the technical foundation, industrial supporting facilities and market layout of any advanced industry must be in their own hands.

However, to achieve this, Rabbit faces an extremely difficult road.

At that time, the cost per unit of electricity of a photovoltaic power plant in Inner Mongolia was as high as 1 yuan, while the cost of coal power during the same period was only 0.38 yuan.

This means that if they want to keep the power plant operating, the government must first invest tens of millions of yuan to build the power plant, and then use a subsidy price of 0.62 yuan per kilowatt hour to maintain the normal operation of the power plant.

This is a huge difficulty. It is impossible for any country dominated by capital to risk such a huge investment.

It is true that everyone knows that with the development of the photovoltaic industry and technological advancement, the cost of photovoltaic power generation will gradually decrease until it is lower than traditional power generation methods. However, no one has a clear answer as to how long this will take.

No one knows whether the official finances will be dragged down by this emerging industry before reaching this so-called "parity point".

However, this rabbit is an anomaly.

Its strategic vision transcends any real interests and always looks further into the future.

In 2009, the Golden Sun Project was launched, with an estimated investment of 10 billion yuan to promote the development of the domestic photovoltaic market in the form of financial subsidies and establish a domestic to international buffer zone for domestic photovoltaic companies.

This project has saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, solved a large number of electricity problems, and more importantly, it has given the most critical breath of life to the domestic photovoltaic industry companies that were already on the verge of death.

In the same year, China Power Investment Corporation, which had been in the field of new energy for more than ten years, left its roots in the west and traveled thousands of miles to the east.

The first move it made was to join the Jiangsu North Plan.

The so-called Jiangsu Plan is the development plan for the northern Jiangsu area. This plan had been prepared for nearly 15 years at that time. However, because the coastal economy at that time was mainly based on Qingdao and Shanghai, the northern Jiangsu Plan has always been a strategic preparatory plan.

Implementation.

After 2008, due to the impact of the international financial crisis, the domestic economy urgently needed a new growth pole. The North Jiangsu plan was upgraded to a national strategy. The most critical one is that by 2020, the new energy power generation of the entire province must reach the total power generation.

40% of the amount.

With the support of the Jiangsu North Plan, China Power Investment Corporation and GCL Group established a 1,000MW power station. Its main purpose is to develop and verify new technologies. This project has since then continued to provide strong technology for the development of domestic photovoltaic companies.

support.

The market and technology have been solved, but the core raw material link was solved by a once unknown engineer.

Chen Weiping, chief engineer of Hualu Company.

In 2007, the cold hydrogenation technology he led and developed was fully implemented, breaking patent barriers in just a few years, and spreading this technology to all related industrial companies across the country.

At this point, the pattern of three heads outside was completely broken.

Subsequently, the potential of Huaxia Photovoltaic Enterprises, which had been suppressed by the financial crisis, was fully released. Western industries that had previously chosen to shrink production capacity during the crisis were unable to adjust production capacity in a timely manner. However, Huaxia Photovoltaic Company, which maintained most of its production capacity in the Golden Sun Project, became the only company in the international market.

choose.

In 2011, the output of China Photovoltaic Group reached 66% of global production. China Solar Army once again went overseas, carrying the most advanced technology, the strongest financial strength, and the strongest policy support, and began to counterattack the West.

In 2012, the bankruptcy of q-cell, Europe's largest photovoltaic company, marked the complete failure of the hunt for China's photovoltaic industry, and the end of the nearly 20-year history of the West's high-profit monopoly in the photovoltaic industry.

In just six years, those capitalists hiding in Wall Street and Frankfurt could not have imagined that China Photovoltaic’s counterattack would be so rapid and fierce.

This photovoltaic battle that spanned two financial crises has also become a classic battle in the international economic field.

However, this battle did not end there.

After that, the competition in the photovoltaic field began to leave the commercial dimension and enter the field of geopolitical struggle.

The anti-dumping investigation was launched, domestic photovoltaic companies collapsed overnight, 350 billion RMB output value was lost, 200 billion RMB loans appeared structural risks, more than 500 industrial companies went bankrupt, and 500,000 people lost their jobs at the same time.

This is the last darkness before dawn, but it is also the most critical moment for the entire Chinese photovoltaic industry.

We can use many reasons to explain such a crisis, but fundamentally, the root cause of this crisis is not only the confrontation between an industry, but actually the contradiction in the path choices of two countries, and the Chinese people's desire for a better life.

Yearning for and pursuing the contradiction with the hegemonic system in which Western vested interests condescend to squeeze everyone except themselves.

To regain the initiative in such contradictions and conflicts, there is only one path we can choose, and that is to return to the people.
To be continued...