Back contact cells are a hot topic in the industry. What makes your approach to this technology so successful?
Leon Zhang: I believe this is a huge leap forward in the PV industry. On the front side, there are no busbars or other contacts, so there is no shading at all. It is completely black. Back contact means they move all the busbars from the front to the back. This maximises the area exposed to the sun.
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Does this technology completely eliminate shading and associated losses?
Not at all. It increases the module power up to 670 watts. What does that mean? It means 6.5 percent more than the TOPCon cell, the old technology, of the same size, without compromising the bifacial rate, which is up to 80 percent.
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The HPBC technology is a development by LONGi. What is your strategy for the industry? Are there plans to expand your manufacturing capacity?
Recently, we built our new Lighthouse factory in Jiaxing. It was awarded by the World Economic Forum. It is, in fact, the first of its kind in the entire industry, and even serves as a benchmark for a zero-carbon factory.
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Does innovation extend beyond the cells to the production process itself?
Exactly. For example, our Lighthouse factory represents the highest standard of digitalisation. It incorporates around 30 use cases from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We use AI for quality inspection, AI for cell allocation, and intelligent warehousing. A lot of new technology has been implemented in this factory, which produces our new Hi-MO 9. Every 12 seconds, a module can be made. This is how we achieve economies of scale, as you can imagine.
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Back contact technology isn’t the final step. Does LONGi have other developments in the pipeline? And where do you see the technology heading in the future?
You know, we hold two world records. One is for the crystalline solar cell with 27.81 percent efficiency, which is already amazing. However, we also hold a second world record for crystalline silicon tandem cell efficiency, reaching up to 34.85 percent.
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Tandem refers to a stack of cells, correct?
It's far more advanced compared to the current one. We've already achieved this record. The next step for our R&D will be to commercialise it. This process may take two, three, or even five years, but I hope we won’t have to wait too long. We firmly believe this will be the next killer product after back contact technology.
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Are you continuing to deliver new modules and improved products to your customers?
We are genuinely an LCOE-focused company. We deliver more powerful products to reduce the levelised cost of energy and enhance returns on investment for our clients. This enables them to transform many previously impossible business cases into viable opportunities. The key lies in PV module technology. (HS)
