U.S. trade policy is likely to drive the adoption of better technology in the country's solar market, an executive at JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. said Aug. 30, potentially advancing industry efforts to improve solar's cost-competitiveness against other energy sources.
The Trump administration in June exempted from import tariffs bifacial solar panels, which can absorb sunlight on their front and back. As a result of the increased absorption, bifacial panels are able to generate more electricity than standard solar modules at a lower cost, industry executives say.
"Based on the current [U.S. trade] policy, we expect the demand in the U.S. market to start to shift toward bifacial modules," beginning in the large-scale utility sector, Gener Miao, chief marketing officer at JinkoSolar, said on the Chinese panel-maker's second quarter earnings call.
Canadian Solar Inc., another panel manufacturer, on Aug. 15 said it is increasing its capacity to make "bifacial compatible" solar modules. The company, which expects to roughly double the volume of solar panels it sends to the U.S. during the third quarter, recently won a contract to supply bifacial modules to EDF Renewables North America. Bifacial panels can generate up to 30% more electricity than standard modules, Canadian Solar Chairman and President Xiaohua Qu said in a 2018 interview.
"The agreement demonstrates our confidence in the bifacial module technology to support our robust pipeline of contracted projects over the next [five] years," Tristan Grimbert, president and CEO of EDF Renewables North America, said in a news release. EDF Renewables North America is a subsidiary of France's EdF Energies Nouvelles.
The move toward bifacial panels is happening at a time when falling equipment costs are already making solar more cost-competitive, which is increasing demand in emerging markets.
This year is a "milestone for the global solar industry as grid parity rapidly approaches," JinkoSolar CEO Kangping Chen said, referring to the point at which alternative sources of energy such as solar cost the same or less than conventional sources such as natural gas.
"A number of emerging overseas markets are quickly reaching gigawatt levels as the market increasingly diversifies away from traditional mature markets," Chen said, adding that solar prices are "increasingly becoming more competitive with thermal power generation."
JinkoSolar said net income rose in the second quarter to 124.7 million Chinese yuan, or $18.2 million, from 99.1 million yuan a year earlier. Solar module shipments increased 21% year over year to 3,386 MW.
As of Aug. 29, US$1 was equivalent to 7.14 Chinese yuan.
