Author: Yu Chen

Household photovoltaic manufacturers began to look to the villas and other high-end residential roofs.

on June 13, photovoltaic giant longji green energy (601012.sh) released Hi-MOX6 villa photovoltaic modules with a maximum power of 450W. It is understood that the photovoltaic module has beautiful, scientific and technological, reliable, low carbon and other advantages.

This action has aroused concern and discussion in the industry. A person from a listed photovoltaic company told reporters that from the current policy and market situation, high-end household photovoltaic may become a new development trend, but the person also admitted that the current high-end villa household photovoltaic installed capacity is still at a low level.

"unlike most rural household photovoltaic projects are the investment behavior of enterprises or investors, the income of high-end villa household photovoltaic is entirely attributed to the owners," the person said.

based on this, time finance interviewed a number of villa users and first-line photovoltaic manufacturers, in-depth understanding of the relevant groups for the use of high-end household photovoltaic and their attitudes.

Longer return cycle

Leisurely, who lives in Songjiang District of Shanghai, has been installing photovoltaic for 3 years. According to leisureliness, a few years ago, under the introduction of a friend, she came into contact with household photovoltaic. Considering the large demand for electricity at home, she installed a photovoltaic power generation system for her townhouse, which cost a total of 61000 yuan.

"the oven, steamer, air conditioner, floor heating, dishwasher, washing machine and other equipment in the home all need electricity, which may touch the electricity price of the second and even the third ladder." Leisurely told Time Finance that since the grid connection in July 2021, the photovoltaic system in the home has accumulated 38400 degrees of power generation, and in most cases it can achieve self-sufficiency in electricity consumption.

Image source: Respondent for image

leisurely said that if the photovoltaic power generation exceeds the demand for self-use during the day, the remaining electricity will be sold to the state grid at a price of 0.42 yuan per degree plus a subsidy of 0.08 yuan. At night, households need to buy electricity from the national grid.

according to APP data provided by leisurely, in may 2024, the total photovoltaic power generation of leisurely home will reach 1550 degrees, with a total revenue of 651.27 yuan. The cumulative total return is $14603.55, and if calculated from July 2021, the average monthly return is $417.24.

"This is a process of investing in the early stage and then slowly returning to the original." Leisurely said that for her family, the installation of photovoltaics is very cost-effective to supplement their electricity consumption. According to its power generation and income, the reporter roughly calculated that it would take more than 10 years to return to this capital.

the reporter noticed that in the villa area where leisureliness is located, roof photovoltaic panels can be seen everywhere. every time you get close to a building, you can see that some residents have installed photovoltaic panels on their roofs, and these photovoltaic panels are cleverly integrated with the design of the building itself, which is almost difficult to detect.

Image source: Respondent for image

In addition, Wang Lei from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is also a photovoltaic enthusiast. In 2023, Wang Lei spent 90000 yuan to install a photovoltaic power generation system on the roof of his home and opened a separate social media account to record daily photovoltaic power generation revenue.

According to Wang Lei, after the installation of photovoltaic equipment, the annual electricity expenditure has been reduced from 5200 yuan to 2900 yuan. At the same time, it has also received 8300 yuan from the state. Regarding the return cycle, Chloe Wang said frankly that due to the weather, Guangxi has a long rainy season this year, with an average daily power generation of only 22.4 degrees from the date of grid connection, and the return cycle has also been extended to 9.28 years. "Compared with the previous statistics, it has been two months since I returned to this book," Wang Lei said.

However, for some northern residents, the economic benefits of installing photovoltaic systems on the roof of a villa are still a major consideration in their decision-making process.

Zou Ming, who lives in Changchun, Jilin Province, had an idea about installing a photovoltaic power generation system on the roof, but after comprehensive consideration, he finally chose to give up. "It (photovoltaic) is a good project, but in the northeast, the effect may have to be discounted." Zou Ming told Times Finance that his townhouse covers an area of 330 square meters. If photovoltaic facilities are fully laid on the roof, the direct cost will be close to 60000 yuan, and it may take 7 to 8 years to return to the original. time.

"The most important thing is that the winter in the Northeast is relatively long and lasts for about five months. During this period, snow cover will cause the photovoltaic panels to fail to operate effectively. In contrast, the summer time is shorter. Therefore, the overall photovoltaic power generation The economy is not significant," Zou Ming said.

Coincidentally, Mr. Sun from the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region revealed in an interview with Times Finance that due to the frequent sandstorms in the Ximeng area and the high cost of installation by individual users, it has not been heard that there are individual users around his residence. Such installation.

Market needs regulation

At the enterprise level, the market for household photovoltaics is becoming more and more competitive. Price war, homogenization competition and other issues are increasingly significant, the industry profit margins are constantly being compressed.

public information shows that photovoltaic enterprises including sunshine power supply (300274.sz), longji green energy, trina solar energy (688599.sh), xiexin group, chint group, jingke energy (688223.sh), atlas (688472.sh) and other photovoltaic enterprises have launched household photovoltaic brands to meet market demand. Among them, Sunshine Power, Trina Solar, Zhengtai Electric also promoted the spin-off of its distributed business entity subsidiary.

At the same time, Huawei, the United States and other enterprises have cross-border household photovoltaic field.

Recently, renewable energy investment is facing significant uncertainty due to factors such as immature electricity market mechanisms and market-based transactions that may lead to fluctuations in electricity prices. Compared with rural areas, villa residents who also have independent roof use rights have become a new target and "battlefield" for photovoltaic manufacturers ".

PV manufacturers including Longji Green Energy, Trina Solar Energy, Huawei and Midea have all launched components and green power solutions dedicated to villa user groups, focusing on this specific application scenario.

the reporter consulted a number of photovoltaic companies on this issue. among them, sun haipeng, general manager of xiexin sunshine household use company, told times finance and economics, "although the scale of high-end household use target customers is limited, if a certain company or some exclusive business organizations are specific to develop and construct, its market scale cannot be underestimated and may reach tens of billions."

In addition, Tao Kai, the person in charge of a photovoltaic company in Shanghai, also told reporters that to a certain extent, the high-end household market is indeed a new trend.

Tao Kai said that in the current hot weather, the electricity consumption of many villa owners has increased significantly. With direct sunlight on the roof, owners will choose to install photovoltaic equipment to achieve the purpose of energy saving and cooling.

However, Tao Kai also pointed out that the villa market itself is relatively limited in scale and scattered. Most first-line photovoltaic installation companies purchase components and inverters from large factories and provide installation services themselves. However, the components and materials used by various installation companies are uneven, the market as a whole is chaotic, and the installation standards need to be further standardized and improved.

According to Tao Kai, in order to reduce costs and meet the needs of price competition, some photovoltaic installation companies will choose to use large-size components suitable for industry and commerce, rather than household components designed for villas with smaller sizes and relatively high unit prices.

"Some installation companies are still using obsolete power segment products in order to lower their quotations, and these products often come from early small power segment components or second-hand inventory components. As a result, they pose a potential threat to the healthy development of the market." Tao Kai said that the market is looking forward to the entry of truly competitive products. Only then can this field achieve more stable and long-term development.

(leisureliness, Wang lei, Zou Ming and Tao kai are all pseudonyms)