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On July 30, the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Shandong Provincial Energy Administration issued the "Notice on Matters Concerning the Implementation of Document NDRC Price [2025] No. 1192 to Support the Price Policy for Nearby Consumption of New Energy," clarifying the fee standards for projects such as green electricity direct connection, generation-grid-load-storage integration, green electricity industrial parks, and other projects powered by dedicated new energy lines.

Recently, a PV glass enterprise meeting was held, at which the glass enterprises reached a consensus on collective production cuts going forward. Based on information from various sources, SMM estimates that the production cuts negotiated at the meeting amount to about 8,000 mt/day, involving more than five enterprises. However, the specific timing for the production cuts was not finalised. SMM expects the pace of production cuts to vary among enterprises, but it is anticipated that the cuts will be completed as agreed in 2026H2.

[SMM Comment: Wafer Prices Grind Lower, Enterprises Pin Hopes on Policy] This week, wafer prices continued to fall, with N-type 183 wafers priced at 0.8-0.824 yuan/piece, 210R wafers quoted at 0.895-0.925 yuan/piece, and 210mm wafers quoted at 1.099-1.125 yuan/piece.

According to SMM, the upward momentum of PV-grade EVA market quotes started to slow this week, with trader offers mostly concentrated at 10,500 yuan/mt. Downstream acceptance of the price increase was limited, also affected by the recent halt in ethylene price gains on the raw material side and the switch of some units to PV-grade EVA production.

Recently, the second section of the Huaneng Mancheng 300MW forest-photovoltaic complementary new energy project, constructed by China Anneng First Engineering Bureau Liaoning Branch, successfully completed key construction tasks, with the first batch of PV modules successfully connected to the grid. The successful achievement of this period marks a significant milestone breakthrough in the project's construction progress. It not only builds robust green momentum for the high-quality development of the new energy industry in Mancheng District, Baoding, but also fully demonstrates China Anneng's hardcore construction strength in overcoming difficulties, fulfilling commitments, and delivering professional and efficient performance.

As TOPCon solar cell technology enters the stage of large-scale mass production, fine management and control in PV manufacturing has become the core direction for cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Polysilicon deposition, as one of the main thin-film deposition processes for solar cells, has its temperature control accuracy and process cycle directly impacting solar cell conversion efficiency, batch yield, and production line capacity. Recently, a leading PV manufacturing enterprise in China deployed the Yudian AI-8648G high-performance intelligent multi-channel temperature controller. Without modifying the equipment hardware structure or adjusting the process temperature baseline, it achieved a 130-second reduction in the heating ramp-up phase of the polysilicon process, while both the solar cell conversion efficiency and product yield outperformed those of the baseline process, providing a replicable technical solution for the lean optimization of PV thermal processes.

Today, distributed 210 prices were pulled back from high levels, as Q3 distributed demand began to decline and large-format module demand pulled back somewhat. With orders decreasing, the 720W module in the market started to see localized price concessions in shipments. In addition, technological efficiency improvements also contributed to the decline in module prices. Mainstream 210 power slowly rose to 725-735W, and enterprises with existing 715-720W inventory began to moderately lower prices to sell, leading to a price drop.

EDP Renewables has agreed to sell an 80% common equity stake in a 384MW solar and battery storage portfolio in California to a fund managed by Ares Infrastructure Equity. The portfolio includes 200MW of solar PV and 184MW of battery storage, with the solar capacity backed by a 20-year PPA and the storage assets under a 20-year capacity tolling agreement. The transaction implies an enterprise value of about USD 800 million at the start of operations, with EDPR expected to receive around USD 450 million.

Zelestra has signed a long-term PPA with Tesla for the full output of its 140MW AC Lumen Farm solar project in northeast Texas. The project is expected to begin construction in 2027 and become fully operational in 2029, supporting Tesla’s growing power demand in the state. Separately, Zelestra secured USD 181 million in green project financing for its 176MW DC Skull Creek Solar Plant in Texas, backed by a long-term PPA with Meta and scheduled to come online by the end of 2027.

Tesla has signed a long-term PPA with ContourGlobal for the Sterling hybrid solar and battery storage project in Arizona. The agreement covers about 1TWh of electricity annually, equal to around 90% of the project’s expected annual output of more than 1.1TWh. Project Sterling combines 509MW DC/450MW AC of solar PV with a 360MW/1.4GWh battery storage system. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with commercial operation targeted for 2028.

[SMM Silver Weekly Review: Silver N-shaped consolidation ended flat this week amid repeated tug-of-war between geopolitical and interest rate hike expectations] Silver prices showed an N-shaped trend this week. At the start of the week, ceasefire expectations pushed prices up. Subsequently, the hawkish US Fed held rates steady, combined with repeated Middle East tensions, and silver prices consolidated to close at 14,286 yuan/kg. Spot silver supply and demand were both weak, and transactions remained at parity. On the inventory front, total social inventory accumulated to 3,658 mt, while ETF open interest edged down. Short-term, it is expected to move sideways with a downward bias.

LONGi has signed a strategic MoU with DHL Group to jointly develop global solar and energy storage markets. The partnership combines LONGi’s high-efficiency PV, BESS and green hydrogen technologies with DHL’s global logistics network to support decarbonization of logistics infrastructure. LONGi will deploy BIPV across DHL’s logistics parks and office facilities in Europe, while the two companies will jointly develop integrated PV-plus-storage solutions for logistics hubs.