As a leader in photovoltaic modules, JinkoSolar has the world's largest TOPCon production capacity. As of July this year, Jinkosolar's N-type battery production capacity reached 55GW, and N-type shipments exceeded 10GW in a single quarter, ranking first in the world.
China Securities Journal reporter recently investigated JinkoEnergy Jianshan Super factory located in Haining, Zhejiang Province. In the highly intelligent and automated production workshop with 5G artificial intelligence, big data and other new generation information technology as the core, the reporter felt that JinkoEnergy is making every effort to improve the efficiency and flexibility of order allocation with higher efficiency and lower cost. Intelligent scale production may become a magic weapon for Jinkosolar to cope with potential cyclical risks.
Production efficiency increased by more than 30%
In the past three years, the photovoltaic upstream silicon material, silicon link to earn a pot full, but the downstream cell and component links have limited benefits, in order to pursue profit maximization, the integrated base model has recently begun to prevail in the head of photovoltaic companies.
"The technology, production and expansion cycles of each link in the photovoltaic industry are different." The person in charge of JinkoEnergy Jianshan N-type super factory admitted to reporters that in the process of rapid development of the industry, it is inevitable that there will be phased mismatches, which makes it difficult for everyone to step on the cycle. At present, as an integrated base, Jianshan Gigafactory can ensure the stability of the supply chain, prevent risks caused by fluctuations in the upstream and downstream markets, and create core competitiveness across the cycle.
Jinke Energy Haining Jianshan N type super factory covers an area of 648 acres, in the first phase of the 8GW battery production workshop, the reporter saw that the fully automated intelligent assembly line is running at high speed, and the operators are monitoring the running status of the production line and various production data.
Through the air corridor, the reporter saw that the battery cells and components are being passed in an orderly manner, and the Jianshan super factory has begun to take shape. "Our N-type Gigafactory is a smart battery workshop with next-generation information technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, big data and digital twins as the core." Jinkosolar Chief Technology Officer Jin Hao said, "Jinkosolar has introduced advanced photovoltaic cell and module production equipment, which has shortened the development cycle of photovoltaic products to 15 days, increased the per capita production efficiency by more than 30%, and increased the energy utilization rate to more than 25%."
In the battery production workshop, the reporter noticed that there were almost no employees here. There are about 300 AGV cars in the entire workshop that are being intelligent handling, from material allocation to packaging and warehousing, to fully realize automated production.
In the finished component warehouse, rows of N-type high-efficiency components are being packaged by workers, and the operators on site are busy loading vehicles to ship them to Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and other places.
Innovation and upgrading is the main theme of industry development
As a typical demonstration project for the intelligent transformation and development of the photovoltaic industry, JinkoSolar Haining Jianshan N-type Gigafactory has accumulated rich experience for the photovoltaic industry to implement production fine management and workshop smart factory transformation, provides the industry with a demonstration benchmark for flexible production and big data analysis and control, and sets a model for the industry to carry out intelligent manufacturing project construction.
Jinkoenergy vice president Qian Jing told reporters that on the basis of the existing experience of the Jianshan Phase I project, the Jianshan Phase II project will be further optimized and improved, JinkoEnergy will continue to increase the production capacity investment of N-type TOPCon, and the average battery mass production efficiency target is 25.8% by the end of 2023.
When talking about why TOPCon continues to be deeply engaged, Qian Jing said that the company's N-type TOPCon products have been favored by customers with advantages such as high conversion efficiency, high double-sided rate, high power generation, and low attenuation coefficient, and the products are in short supply. At present, N-type shipments in a single quarter have exceeded 10GW, and the path of efficiency reduction is clear for the future, so we are confident that we will continue to lead in the future.
The reporter learned that Jinke Energy Haining Jianshan Phase II budget investment of 5.462 billion yuan, after the production will become the world's 10GW scale above the highest production efficiency of the battery factory, but also will be one of the world's highest level of intelligence of the battery factory.
"Jianshan smart factory has begun to take shape on an integrated scale, which can merge many production processes and processes, and reduce the intermediate transportation and handling process, further saving various production costs." At present, the company is building a digital management platform so that the entire plant can run more efficiently under the digital platform." Jin Hao said.
In answer to the industry's concerns about whether the company has R & D reserves on other technical routes, Jin said that Jinko Energy pays attention to the progress of a variety of technical routes, has a rich means of continuous improvement on the N-type TOPCon route, and also reserves BC technology and perovskite stack battery technology based on N-type TOPCon. In the future, it will be launched in time according to the maturity of technology and customer demand.
In Jin Hao's view, innovation and upgrading is the main theme of the development of the photovoltaic industry, and in the process of upgrading from P-type to N-type technology, various technologies have shown a blossoming trend. "But the nature of PV is an investment product, pursuing a lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and a higher yield for downstream customers." Although other technical routes such as BC and HJT are currently at the same level as N-type TOPCon in terms of conversion efficiency, there is still a large gap in integrated production cost and economy, so N-type TOPCon will remain the mainstream products in the next 3-5 years."
Promote the construction of a large integrated base in Shanxi
Jianshan Super factory is Jinkoenergy N type TOPCon technology demonstration project, and for the company's previous heavy official announced Shanxi integration base project, Jinkoenergy said, "is promoting the strength of the whole company to promote the construction of Shanxi base."
"For the first time, we have all four parts (pulling, slicing, battery and components) under one roof, which will greatly improve the turnaround efficiency of the production process and the overall level of automation." Jinko Energy investor relations director Wei Tian told reporters.
Wei Tian said that the integrated production model on the one hand will greatly reduce the production cycle, on the other hand, it will also help the company further reduce costs and increase efficiency in investment and operation. "In addition, we also have new competitive advantages in green electricity and other aspects, which are magic weapons for Jinko to participate in market competition in the next stage."
On the evening of May 24, Jinkosolar announced that the company intends to plan and build a vertical integration large base project with an annual output of 56GW in Shanxi's transformation and comprehensive reform demonstration zone, with a total investment of about 56 billion yuan.
Industry insiders believe that the construction of an integrated large base project is a moat for enterprises to combat potential cyclical risks. In this regard, Qian Jing told reporters that the integrated large base project will be a demonstration base for Jinko Energy's highly intelligent and automated production. "Shanxi will become the most important base for the integrated mass production of Jinkosolar N-type products in the future, and N-type equipment manufacturers and material suppliers will converge here." When the 56GW capacity is fully released, the Shanxi base will contribute 20% of the global N-type capacity."
Wei Tian said that the Shanxi integration project is very important for Jinko, because in terms of technology, scale, efficiency, or intelligence, Shanxi big base is a clear advantage for Jinko Energy to stand out in the future competition in the industry.
In addition to domestic projects, Qian Jing said that JinkoSolar will further expand its globally integrated supply chain, including Southeast Asian factories, and actively and rapidly promote the construction of the traceability system to lay the foundation for long-term stable supply in overseas markets. "As of July this year, we have put N-type production capacity of 55GW, in addition to the 20GW in Haining, we have 16GW in Hefei." The company will also continue to expand its globally integrated supply chain, including facilities in Southeast Asia, where it expects to have more than 12GW of vertically integrated wafers, cells and modules by the end of 2023."
In the first half of this year, JinkoSolar achieved operating income of 53.624 billion yuan, an increase of 60.52%. Net profit returned to the mother was 3.843 billion yuan, an increase of 324.58%; Achieved product shipments of 31.1GW, including 30.8GW of components, the first half of the global component shipment ranking champion.