Technological innovation: Focus on R&D breakthroughs and talent training to build an "accelerator" for the photovoltaic industry

Gold is found only when the waves wash away the sand. Facing the fierce competition in the industry, technological breakthrough is the only way.

Technological innovation is not only a guarantee of corporate profits and market position, but also an important way for companies to obtain competitive advantages. It is also a key driving force for the healthy and high-quality development of the industry.

Under the trend of iterating solar cells from P-type to N-type technology in recent years, high-efficiency cells based on TOPCon have broken through and become N-type technology with extremely fast mass production in 2023. Among a group of companies that are rapidly iterating, with the continuous improvement of independent innovation capabilities, Yiyi New Energy has successfully been approved by multiple provincial-level R&D platforms. With R&D as the support, it has broken the TOPCon battery efficiency world record three times in 8 months, promoting to achieve high-quality and efficient development of TOPCon battery technology.

Currently, the average mass production efficiency of Yiyi Xinneng's TOPCon battery production line has reached 26.55%, and the open circuit voltage has reached 742mV, continuing to lead the development and breakthrough of global N-type technology.

Liu Yong emphasized at the forum that increasing investment in research and development and establishing a scientific talent training and introduction mechanism are the keys to improving technological innovation capabilities. Yitong New Energy attaches great importance to increasing investment in research and development of new technologies, new processes and new products, as well as strengthening industry-university-research cooperation and introducing external innovation resources.

It is reported that since May 2023, Yiyi New Energy has joined forces with the team of Martin Green, the "Father of Solar Cells" at the University of New South Wales, to launch a new solar cell project with an efficiency of over 40% to combine powerful forces, complement each other's advantages, and share results. The cooperation model jointly promotes the continuous progress of current photovoltaic technology.

Enhancing the overall strength of the innovation team is inseparable from a scientific talent training system. In recent years, Yiyi New Energy has joined hands with Weining, Guizhou Province, which has unique resource endowments and abundant human resources advantages, and signed a "New Energy Industry Talent Training and Export Base" cooperation agreement with the local government to build Weining into a new energy industry talent training and export base. The base continuously stimulates the vitality of talents and releases the potential of talents, while providing guarantee for the company's technological innovation and injecting new momentum into the high-quality economic and social development of Weining.

Seeking "quality" from "new": multi-dimensional advancement of technology and industrial chain, forging new quality productivity of photovoltaics

As the photovoltaic industry competes with conversion efficiency and production costs, backward and mediocre production capacity is still struggling to make profits, or even being eliminated, while high-quality production capacity has always been in short supply and has once again dominated the development direction of the industry.

Facing a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the photovoltaic industry has become a benchmark industry for new quality productivity. New quality productivity represents a higher level of technology, better quality, higher efficiency, and more sustainability. It is essentially a new high-level modern productivity.

Regarding the focus of Yitong New Energy on cultivating new quality productivity, Liu Yong shared: "Since the beginning of the company's establishment, we have deeply realized that technological innovation is the key to developing new quality productivity. We have always adhered to market demand as the guide and technology as the guide. With innovation as the core, we constantly promote product upgrading and optimization and integration of the industrial chain."

As the "vanguard" in the development of new productivity, Yiyi New Energy takes the lead in accelerating the application of emerging technologies and integrating industrial chains to improve efficiency, establishing the fundamental point of strengthening new productivity. Through cooperation and collaboration with upstream and downstream enterprises, Yiyi New Energy has created a horizontally integrated industrial chain, improved production efficiency and product quality, and consolidated market competitiveness.

Move toward “green”: seize new ESG opportunities and promote “innovative, green” integrated development

In recent years, the ESG concept has emerged globally. As a corporate evaluation standard that focuses on the environment, society, and corporate governance, the value cores it advocates such as sustainable development, environmental resource friendliness, and social fairness and justice are in line with my country's high-tech industry. Important strategic goals such as quality development, common prosperity, and realizing "double carbon" are highly consistent.

As a result, ESG has also received significant attention from leading domestic photovoltaic companies. A number of photovoltaic companies, represented by Yiduo New Energy, have successively released ESG reports, handing in answers on issues such as environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance.

According to PV Tech, based on continuous technological innovation and clear ESG practices, Yiyi New Energy actively explores new models of integrated development of new energy and traditional industries, and applies the concept of energy conservation and emission reduction to the entire manufacturing process. At its Zhangzhou base, Yiyi New Energy is focusing on building a zero-carbon factory with the goal of achieving 100% green power supply and achieving green zero-carbon management in terms of energy efficiency improvement, green production and carbon footprint management.

Through green intelligent manufacturing, strict control of greenhouse gas emissions, production of green products and output of green electricity, Yiyi New Energy comprehensively improves comprehensive utilization efficiency, reduces total energy consumption, saves approximately 7.18 million tons of standard coal every year, and reduces carbon dioxide by the end of November 2023. Emissions are approximately 37.1 million tons.

In 2022, China Energy Construction took the lead in launching the "Three New" alliance with key enterprises, financial institutions and scientific research institutes in the fields of new energy and infrastructure, focusing on the integrated development fields of "new energy, new infrastructure, and new industries". As a member of the "Three New" alliance, Yida Xinneng won the title of "Energy China 2023 Outstanding Supply Chain Partner" with its industry-leading N-type technology.

Regarding the layout of Yiyi New Energy to promote "innovative" and "green" integrated development, Liu Yong said that on the basis of exploring green and low-carbon development, Yiyi New Energy will further integrate the photovoltaic industry with the circular economy and promote the new energy industry to Develop in the direction of ecological circular economy, realize the harmony between photovoltaic products and the surrounding environment, and promote the sustainable development of the new energy industry.

In addition, Yiyi New Energy will continue to strengthen industrial ecological protection and create "photovoltaic +" application scenario solutions suitable for the three series of ecological photovoltaics, urban photovoltaics, and offshore photovoltaics to ensure the harmonious coexistence of power generation and the ecological environment.

Generally speaking, as a benchmark enterprise in the photovoltaic industry, Yiyida New Energy, on the one hand, enhances the core competitiveness of its products by developing more efficient and reliable photovoltaic cells and components; on the other hand, it promotes horizontal industrial chain integration alliances and adjusts production scale. , improve production efficiency, reduce production costs and other methods to deal with the problem of overcapacity. At the same time, we will actively expand overseas markets, find new growth points, promote the export of photovoltaic products, and ease the pressure on the domestic market.

Currently, the relative overcapacity of photovoltaic modules in the domestic market and the photovoltaic industry entering an adjustment cycle have become a major challenge facing the industry. At the same time, the wave of penetration and substitution of N-type products is in full swing, presenting both opportunities and challenges.

Yitiao New Energy's multi-dimensional layout in technological innovation, production efficiency improvement, and market expansion not only guarantees the company itself to maintain its leading position in the industry, but also provides a new model for the industry to transcend cycles and achieve growth breakthroughs.trina solar panels