80% of the price of a PV module is based on the cost of raw material. There is 3 main reason to explain the recent increase in price:
- Lack of Raw Material due to new Feed-in-tariff deadline
- Industry innovation change in Cells production
- Explosion of polycrystalline fab in China
Lack of Raw Material
Recently the Chinese Government announced that the feed-in-tariff auction result of 26GW to be finished by the end of 2020.
Also due to COVID-2019, many projects are late, and currently, the demand for PV modules worldwide is high.
We are also closed to the SNEC exhibition in Shanghai, and we know that during this event, the demand for solar panels in the local market is high.
EVA: The price of EVA is still stable but there are 2 top brand suppliers of EVA in China, SVECK and FIRST, with which most of the Tiers 1 supplier are working with. It’s really hard at the moment to get good quality EVA, so it’s important to pay attention and make sure that the EVA used for your order are good quality one (Minimum 0,5 mm Thickness and 420 g for a 5BB PV module, 0,6 mm for 9BB half-cut cells) to avoid snail trail and moisture issue in the future.
GLASS: Due to the high demand, Glass manufacturer increased their price up to 15%
Industry innovation change
We can see a big change in the industry for a few months with PV module and production line switching from standard 5BB PV module to 9BB half-cut cells with different cell dimensions.
5BB —> 156.75 to 158.75 mm
9BB —> 158 to 166 to 182 mm
PV Module 5BB Poly: As we know for a few months now, the production of polycrystalline cells is decreasing, and cell manufacturers are focusing of produce mono cells. Also, due to recent production lab explosion, that reduces the quantity available so the price increase (+17%)
PV module 5BB Mono: Many PV module manufacturers switch their line to 9BB half-cut cell production, so cells manufacturer focus more at the moment on the production of 9BB half-cut cells. There is as well a lack of good quality cells grades A available on the market.
PV module 9BB Mono (158/166 mm): This 2 types of PV module are in high demand and hot sales at the moment, but there is also new innovation PV module with cells dimension of 182 or 210 mm 9BB coming, and some Tiers manufacturer already switch their production line to 182 mm, and big solar cells manufacturer following the trend as well. The price of 9BB cells Mono increase by around 10%.
Note: This price trend concerns only grade A cells. Note that for some factories, using grade B cells can be 20% cheaper than grade A, which sometimes can explain low prices and unfortunately can be seen only with EL tests.
Explosion of polycrystalline fab in China
As reported by different PV news and article (PV magazine/Bloomberg etc…), there was an explosion at polysilicon fab last week that has taken done 10% of the global production capacity.
For more info, feel free to read this article for PV magazine.
Our advice:
- Pay attention to too attractive low price, bad quality raw materials are always available on the market.
- Work with trustful and transparent supplier
For more information about our company and product, feel free to contact us: info@eco-greenenergy.com.
