How to promote green and low-carbon transformation through technological innovation? How to avoid “involution” in the photovoltaic industry? What progress has been made in the research and development of sodium-ion batteries?…… During the 17th (2024) International Solar Photovoltaic and Smart Energy (Shanghai) Conference and Exhibition (2024 SNEC Photovoltaic Exhibition), experts and scholars discussed related topics.
“As the global energy green and low-carbon transformation accelerates, solar photovoltaic technology and smart energy systems become key. Solar photovoltaics, due to its clean, infinitely renewable characteristics, combined with technological advances, is leading the global energy transformation.”Shi Yubo, Chairman of the China Energy Research Society, said at the meeting.
As it says, when non-renewable energy sources such as coal and oil are frequently in short supply, more and more countries are beginning to develop solar energy resources to seek new impetus for economic development. Driven by the huge potential of the international photovoltaic market, solar cell manufacturing industries in various countries are rushing to invest and expand production.
According to the organizers, as the global photovoltaic industry has experienced more than 20 years of development, this exhibition attracted more than 3,500 companies from 95 countries and regions around the world, with international exhibitors accounting for nearly 30%.
This time, Chinese and foreign institutions exhibited newly developed plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition equipment, smart factories, etc. At the booth, NPP New Energy Chairman Mr Teng Fei told reporters that the independently developed products they brought featured sodium-ion batteries, while they also provided a variety of options including lithium-ion batteries and lead-acid batteries.
Armin Aberle, chairman of this year’s Photovoltaic Frontier Technology Conference and director of the Solar Energy Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore, said that there is an urgent need to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, especially solar energy. “We gathered together to discuss the latest innovations and progress in photovoltaic technology and contribute to the further development of photovoltaic technology.”
In the view of industry insiders such as Gao Jifan, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, in the long run, the photovoltaic industry needs to avoid “involutionary competition” and jointly build a new industry ecology with orderly development.
To this end, we must not only fully encourage technological innovation and strengthen intellectual property protection, but also promote collaborative innovation in industry, academia and research, and coordinated development between upstream and downstream.
In March last year, the “South China Normal University-Napu Power Green Low-Cost Sodium Ion Battery R&D Center” was unveiled.”This move aims to produce original, groundbreaking, high-level research and industrial results, and promote solutions to key issues such as watt-hour cost, extreme fast charging, and long-term cycle stability of sodium-ion batteries. “Mr. Tengfei said that the price of sodium batteries is expected to drop to 75% to 80% of that of lithium batteries, “and it is expected that the cost will be further reduced as the technology improves.” In addition, sodium batteries can operate normally in the temperature range of -40℃ to 50℃, and the market prospects are broad.
It is reported that Shanghai, as an important development base for photovoltaic, energy storage, and other energy equipment industries, has continued to increase investment in recent years. All parties are strengthening the linkage between the upper and lower levels of the industrial chain, promoting joint efforts between the government and enterprises, and using the “group going overseas” of new energy equipment as an engine to polish the “Shanghai brand” of photovoltaic and energy storage equipment.
“As a major photovoltaic country, China not only occupies an important position in all links of the industrial chain, but also has made remarkable breakthroughs in technology research and development, production and market promotion.” Shi Yubo reminded that the photovoltaic industry also faces multiple challenges such as technology, policy and market, environment and social responsibility.
“China’s tremendous contribution to global climate change is unparalleled.” Haimi Bahar, senior analyst at the International Energy Agency, said during the event that without China there would be no development of renewable energy.He also stressed that international cooperation is extremely important. Through international cooperation and fair competition, the overall goal of global near-zero emissions can be achieved faster and better.
A previous report released by the International Energy Agency showed that by the end of 2024, global photovoltaic power generation supply will reach 1,100GW, and China will still maintain an 80% to 95% share in the global supply chain.
Photovoltaic products are known as one of China’s “new three” foreign trade products that are popular overseas.”Our products are exported to more than 80 countries and regions around the world. Especially since entering the Southeast Asian market, they have been widely recognized and supported by users in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries.”Mr Tengfei said that its overseas sales in 2023 had reached 1.2 billion yuan, and its lithium battery orders from January to April this year had exceeded last year’s total orders.
Experts at the meeting believed that after more than a decade, China’s photovoltaic industry has achieved a development path from scratch and from strength to strength. Looking to the future, the development of solar photovoltaics and smart energy needs to enhance global cooperation and jointly promote global energy transformation and sustainable development.
