China's PV industry sees positive signs of recovery

LDK Solar Co., Ltd., one of China's leading manufacturers of multicrystalline solar wafers, has recently released a gratifying Q3 2009 report, after the company and Q-Cells reached an agreement to continue their supply contract for solar wafers from 2009 to 2018. The recovery of LDK Solar's operation may be the prelude of the rebound of China's photovoltaic (PV) industry.

"Global demand for photovoltaic wafers increased significantly in the third quarter and our Q3 report has revealed the improvement of the operation environment of the whole industry," said Peng Xiaofeng, LDK Solar's chairman and CEO.

Other PV wafer producers including Wuxi-based Suntech Power, Changzhou-based Trina Solar and Suzhou-based Canadian Solar Inc. are also enjoying abundant new orders. In the first half this year, Suntech realized sales of 210 MW of PV wafers. Its sales in the second half of 2009 are expected to reach 440MW. Trina witnessed a boom in sales in the second half this year too.

An executive with Changzhou EGing Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd. noted that the market has rebounded in recent months. There was no drop in orders from Germany, a traditional market, and orders from emerging PV wafer markets such as China and the U.S. have been rising.

Currently, the capacity utilization of China's major PV wafer producers has reached 100 percent, driving the executives to give optimistic expectations for the coming year. Baoding-based Yingli Green Energy predicted that the prices of PV wafers would stop dropping in the first quarter of 2010, and Suntech was expecting a price hike.

"In fact, China's PV industry enjoyed earliest recovery among all the industries in China, with an annual growth of over 20 percent," said vice-general manager Lv Jinbiao of Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Co., the largest polysilicon plant in Asia.

By People's Daily Online