in the tide of photovoltaic enterprises to build factories in the United States, leading enterprises Longji Green Energy, Artes took the lead.

Huaxia energy network (public number hxny3060) learned that on February 20, Illuminate USA officially announced in an official press release that "the new 1.1 million-square-foot factory with 1000 employees will start to go offline this week (the fourth week of February)."

Illuminate USA is a component factory jointly built by Longji Green Energy (SH:601012) and US Renewable Energy and Clean Energy Developer Invenergy, with a total investment of more than US $0.6 billion and an annual production capacity of 5GW. The plant is located in Pataskala, Ohio.

The factory successfully rolled off the first photovoltaic module on February 15. At present, an assembly line has been put into operation, and eight production lines are planned to be operated by the end of this year. In addition, Illuminate USA received a $4 million incentive from the Ohio Economic Development Agency and a 15-year tax break for real estate improvements.

In addition to Longji in the US market, the component factory invested by Artes was also put into commercial operation last year. In January, Artes delivered the first TOPCon modules to U.S. solar distributor Signature Solar, made at its plant in Mesquite, Texas. The plant has a total investment of more than $0.25 billion and an annual capacity of 5GW.

incomplete statistics of Huaxia energy network found that in 2023, at least six leading Chinese photovoltaic enterprises, including Longji green energy, jingao technology (SZ:002459), Trina solar energy (SH:688599) and Artes (SH:688472), announced plans to build factories in the United States, thus setting off a new wave of photovoltaic going out to sea (see the previous report "China's photovoltaic going out to sea 2.0 era: the temptation and trap behind the heat to build a factory in the United States. Depth).

entering 2024, with the change of the market situation, the plans of these enterprises to go to sea will change. Enterprises that take the lead in landing are expected to enjoy the sea dividend, and enterprises that are slow may have to give up the opportunity to land in Europe and the United States to build factories in order to wait for a better "time window" to open.

Surge the tide

In response to various trade barriers to China's photovoltaic products in overseas markets, since 2023, photovoltaic companies have been building factories in the United States, showing a trend of collectivity and centralization, with a total planned production capacity of more than 18GW. But the United States is not the only destination. Europe, the Middle East and even Latin America are all optional destinations for this wave of overseas factories.

Li Zhenguo, founder and president of Longji Green Energy, told the media in June last year that Longji was going to build a factory in Germany and the final decision would be made within six months. However, as of now, Longji has not announced the progress of the update.

the central enterprise China building materials group's photovoltaic products manufacturing enterprises-China building materials junxin also announced to build factories in Europe. In August 2023, it signed a solar photovoltaic cooperation project with the British Golden Top Group, with a total investment of 0.2 billion euros, to jointly build a photovoltaic module factory and an integrated optical storage power station in Europe.

The Middle East has also become another popular destination for Chinese photovoltaic companies. Huaxia Energy Network noted that TCL Central (SZ:002129) signed a Joint Development Agreement with Saudi Vision Industries in October last year to jointly build a photovoltaic crystal wafer factory in Saudi Arabia with a design capacity of 20GW in the first phase of the project.

In the same month, Trina also signed a memorandum of understanding with UAE company AD Ports Company PJSC (referred to as AD Ports) and Jiangsu Haitou. SkyTeam intends to invest in the construction of a vertically integrated large base project in Abu Dhabi's Khalifa Economic Zone operated by AD Ports. The planned production capacity includes about 50000 tons of high-purity silicon, 30GW of crystalline silicon wafers and 5GW of battery components.

In addition, in September last year, Lan Tianshi, co-CEO of GCL Technology, revealed that the company was in in-depth negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the construction of a 120000-ton granular silicon project.

In Oman's Sohar Free Trade Zone, a 100000-ton polysilicon plant is also under construction. The investor is a company with a Chinese background-United Solar Polysilicon(FZC)SPC. According to public information, the key figure in this project is photovoltaic tycoon Zhang Longgen (English name: LONGGEN ZHANG), who served as core executives in Jingke Energy (SH:688223) and Daqo Energy (SH:688303).

in Latin America, in October last year, photovoltaic support leader Zhongxinbo (SH:688408) also announced that it would build a 3GW production base in the region through its Brazilian subsidiary, with a total investment of no more than 0.43 billion yuan.

Plan to keep up with market changes

This year, more Chinese PV companies are expected to announce new developments in overseas plant plans. But going out to sea is undoubtedly a road full of variables. In the future, can the overseas plant construction plans of these photovoltaic enterprises really land? Still facing multiple uncertainties.

Since the Biden administration launched the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) in August 2022, it hopes to support the domestic manufacturing industry in the United States and counter the overwhelming advantages of China's power battery, new energy vehicle, photovoltaic, wind power and energy storage battery industries in the US market.

However, the Biden administration's calculations are likely to fail. In the case that the prices of new energy products have fallen across the board or even plummeted, American new energy manufacturing companies will not show price competitiveness, and the advantages of Chinese manufacturing will be further expanded.

At the end of February, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysts stated at the industry conference that the plunge in photovoltaic supply chain prices will frustrate the determination of many regions to develop local manufacturers. "Although governments continue to support local manufacturers to build a local photovoltaic manufacturing industry, huge cost pressures will make companies cautious about investment; many announced plans to build factories in Europe, the United States and other countries may be canceled."

another industry insider told Huaxia Energy Network that at present, US lawmakers have proposed to amend the IRA Act and further raise the "threshold" for local component manufacturers to receive subsidies ".

Lu Jinbiao, deputy director of the silicon industry expert group of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, also said in an interview with Huaxia Energy Network that the price of China's photovoltaic industry chain has plummeted by more than 50% a year, and the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) subsidies that the United States hopes to return to manufacturing "fractured". In addition, compared with the manufacturing cost in China, the manufacturing cost in the United States is "at least doubled". This will affect the next step of China's photovoltaic giants sea decision.

Lu Jinbiao also predicted that the US market in 2024 will still rely on the photovoltaic capacity built by Chinese companies in Southeast Asia.

(please indicate the source for reprinting, source: Huaxia energy network, micro signal: hxny3060)