Photovoltaic Enterprises in Sichuan Resumed their Production Thanks to the Ease of Electricity Shortage

SHANGHAI, Aug 30 (SMM) - SMM learned that since August 26, with the cooling of the weather, the electricity shortage in Sichuan Province has been eased. According to the State Grid in Sichuan, as of 12:00 on August 28, the general industrial and commercial power consumption has been fully restored. Except for high-capacity enterprises, large-scale industrial power consumption is gradually recovering.  Sichuan Provincial Economic and Information Department also issued the Notice on Adjusting the Emergency Response Level of Energy Supply Guarantee in Sichuan Province on August 29.
According to an SMM survey, on August 28, the daily power generation capacity of hydropower in Sichuan was 460 million kWh, up 9.5% from the lowest value in the previous period, and the pressure of residential electricity consumption was reduced. As one of the first enterprises to restore electricity, photovoltaic enterprises have gradually begun to resume their production.

In terms of polysilicon, the main companies involved in the early power cuts are Tongwei Yongxiang and Leshan GCL. SMM learned that Tongwei Yongxiang resumed its production on August 26 and is currently in a ramp-up period of production capacity. It is expected that it will take about one week to reach full production. At the same time, the group's polysilicon output in August is expected to be about 19,000 mt. Leshan GCL has also resumed the production. The ramp-up of capacity is relatively fast because it is a granular silicon production line, and the annual production capacity of 20,000 mt has been restored. Silicon wafer companies of Sichuan Leshan Jinke, Sichuan Leshan Jingyuntong, and Sichuan Tongwei have also resumed production, involving a total production capacity of about 40GW/year. According to SMM research, the capacity ramp-up of local silicon wafer enterprises will take about 7-10 days. For cell companies, SMM mentioned before that Tongwei is the most influential leading company, and it has cell production lines in Meishan, Shuangliu, Jintang, etc. SMM learned from local companies that cell companies have also resumed their production from August 26. It only takes 3-4 days for the cell companies to increase their capacity. As of August 30, Tongwei has restored a production capacity of 52GW/year. Due to the extremely limited distribution of production lines in Sichuan, the power cut cast no impact on the component companies.

SMM has learned that the overall prices of silicon wafer and cells were relatively stable due to the fact that the market supply was supplemented by the production capacity of other regions earlier. The production resumption of silicon material enterprises will effectively alleviate the tight supply in the polysilicon market. According to SMM statistics, the polysilicon output in September will reach about 75,000 mt, and the supply of silicon materials will be more sufficient compared with the previous output of 70,000 mt.