China's polysilicon project approval has been set a certain threshold

The polysilicon industry, which has been strictly controlled by government departments since the fourth quarter of 2009, will soon be loosened. People close to the government department disclosed to this website that the relevant departments will gradually release the newly built and expanded polysilicon projects in China, but the approval will set a certain threshold and the project to be launched will be treated differently.

At the executive meeting of the State Council held on August 26, 2009, new industries such as wind power and polysilicon were considered to be subject to repeated construction. In the article No. 38 issued by the State Council on September 26 last year issued by the State Council, “Some Opinions on Reducing Overcapacity in Some Industries and Duplicating Construction to Guide the Healthy Development of Industries” issued by the State Council pointed out that China’s polysilicon capacity under construction is about 80,000 tons. excess. The document requires strict control over new polysilicon projects in regions with high energy costs and shortages of energy, and will not approve or record polysilicon projects that lack comprehensive utilization and environmental protection.

Under the guidance of the above-mentioned documents, since the fourth quarter of last year, government agencies have approved very few polysilicon projects. At the same time, driven by the recovery of foreign photovoltaic power generation market, China's photovoltaic cell industry maintained a rapid development in 2010, and the upstream polysilicon industry has been in short supply.

According to data provided by an expert from the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, in 2009 China's photovoltaic power generation battery production consumed 30,000 tons of polysilicon, and China produced only 16,000 tons, which can only meet the required 50%. According to customs statistics, China imported a total of 31,503 tons of polysilicon from January to September this year. The annual import volume is expected to exceed 40,000 tons, and the market gap is still large.

According to analysis by industry insiders, the main reason for the large number of imported polysilicon in China is that on the one hand, domestically planned production capacity has not been fully established, and actual output cannot meet market demand; on the other hand, it is a part of domestic production that the quality stability of polysilicon needs to be improved and it cannot be replaced. Imported products.

According to Ben Wang's previous understanding, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Research shows that although the planned production capacity of polysilicon exceeds 80,000 tons, the capacity completion rate is only about 55%, while the actual capacity utilization rate is even lower, only 25.8%. As of September 2009, only a dozen polycrystalline silicon production enterprises have been put into production in China, accounting for only 24.6% of the total planned volume.

It is understood that the Ministry of Science and Technology also conducted research on the domestic polysilicon industry this year and found that many polysilicon companies have made significant progress in their energy consumption and cost reduction through technological progress. At the same time, there was no overcapacity in the industry, but supply was in short supply, and about half of the polysilicon needed for domestic production of photovoltaic cells this year is expected to rely on imports.

The industry expects that despite the reduction of the on-grid tariff of German PV in 2011, the global photovoltaic power generation market is expected to maintain a growth rate of around 20%. Coupled with the “Golden Sun” project and the construction of large-scale photovoltaic power plants on the domestic market, next year China will The demand is still relatively strong, and a large amount of polysilicon still needs to be imported.

The aforementioned person close to the government department stated that in view of the actual development of the polysilicon market, relevant departments will gradually release the approval of polysilicon projects in the future, neither will it be called “stop-all” in the past, nor will it be simply completed. Relax, but treat differently, promote the healthy development of the industry.

It is understood that in the area of ​​polysilicon, government departments will encourage and support enterprises in adopting new production technologies in the future and strictly control the high cost of Siemens law.