Tracking solar brackets, the last blue ocean of the photovoltaic industry?
Publish Time：2022-09-02
Sources：
In 2021, in the middle of the year, the price of silicon materials at the upstream source of the industry chain has skyrocketed, resulting in loss of profits for midstream cell and module manufacturers, and even joint protests from leading module companies.
Focusing on the domestic market, tracking solar stents is still in the early stage of development, and there are not many participants in the industry. With the increase in penetration rate, this blue ocean market is expected to emerge as a star enterprise that attracts global attention.
1. Why use tracking solar mounts?
The core logic of the development of the photovoltaic industry is four words - cost reduction and efficiency increase.
In the past ten years, the cost of photovoltaic power generation has dropped by 90%. With the iterations of materials, sizes, and technologies, the photovoltaic industry has now begun to enter the "parity era". Looking to the future, further improving efficiency is still the core demand of photovoltaic companies.
For a long time, the iteration of the photovoltaic industry has mainly occurred in the link of silicon wafers and cells. In fact, in addition to these two major links, photovoltaic modules also have a lot of room for cost reduction.
solar mount system, as the name suggests, is a shelf for fixing photovoltaic modules. It mainly undertakes the important task of protecting photovoltaic modules from damage from external factors such as strong winds. Therefore, sturdiness is its most important product attribute. But in fact, this seemingly simple bracket also has room for upgrading.
The light intensity directly determines the efficiency of the module. In order to maximize the power generation efficiency of the module, the traditional fixed bracket generally chooses an installation inclination to better absorb sunlight, and this inclination often chooses the angle with the strongest light intensity in a year. Usually, this angle cannot be adjusted, or it can only be adjusted manually according to the seasonal changes of light, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Although traditional fixed brackets have chosen the seemingly optimal angle, the reality is that the sun is changing in real time, making it difficult for the components to fully absorb the light. The best angle is only relative, and most of the time, the power generation efficiency of photovoltaic modules is compromised.
In nature, sunflowers are named after their flowers are always facing the sun. Inspired by this, the industry has begun to introduce tracking solar mounts to solve the problem of solar modules absorbing light. The tracking solar bracket can be adjusted by the angle, track the movement of the sun in real time, and always make the components face the best angle of sunlight, so as to improve the power generation efficiency.
Different from the simple structure of the fixed bracket, if the tracking solar mount wants to realize the function of tracking sunlight in real time, it is necessary to add a driving system and a control system.
The control system is equivalent to tracking the "brain" of the solar mount, sending instructions to the drive system to control the real-time orientation of the mount. After the control system captures the "command", it needs to complete the adjustment of the orientation and angle of the bracket.
Tracking solar brackets makes the brackets no longer a decoration, but a key part of improving the efficiency of the modules.
According to the difference in structure, tracking solar support can be divided into two types: single-axis and double-axis. A single axis can only rotate in one plane, and can be divided into a single flat axis and a single oblique axis according to the angle of the rotation axis, which can only make the inclination angle of the light as small as possible. The angle of inclination always allows the component to absorb the strongest light.
Although dual-axis tracking solar mounts work best, the mounts must be strong enough in addition to being rotated. The current technology is immature and the cost is high. In contrast, single-axis tracking solar mounts are more cost-effective and are the most mature flat single-axis tracking solar mounts. On the basis of an increase of only about 10% of investment, a 25% increase in efficiency can be achieved. mainstream program.
Due to the need to take into account both stability and rotation characteristics, the barriers to tracking solar mounts are higher and provide the industry with more possibilities for change.
2. An inevitable industry iteration
Throughout the global market, tracking solar stents show a very obvious differentiation pattern.
In the mature market represented by the United States, the penetration rate of tracking solar stents is relatively high, close to 80%; in the domestic market, tracking solar stents are only in their infancy, and the current market penetration rate is less than 20%.
On the whole, the actual installed capacity of global tracking solar mounts in 2020 is about 35.8GW. Based on the global installed PV capacity of 81GW that year, the actual penetration rate of tracked solar mounts is about 44.2%. In general, tracking solar mounts are still in the early stage of industrial development, and there is still huge room for improvement.
As the world's largest market for tracking solar mounts, the United States acts as the industry's first mover. Not only will the industry reach a penetration rate of 77% in 2020, but many companies focusing on tracking solar mounts have also emerged. In 2020, the top three companies in the world for tracking solar mount shipments are European and American companies, with NEXTracker, Array Technologies and PV Hardware together accounting for 55% of the entire market.
With the popularity of tracking solar mounts, it has gradually gained more attention from investors. Array Technologies, which owns 19% of the global market share, has landed on the capital market in September 2020, with a current market value of about US$1.214 billion; NEXTracker, the veteran tracking solar mount leader, is also seeking the possibility of an IPO.
Unlike the fiery overseas market, the market is still relatively deserted at present, and it has not been recognized by end users.
In fact, tracking solar brackets landed earlier in China. As early as 2009, the first tracking solar bracket photovoltaic demonstration project appeared in my country. However, since the tracking of solar mounts can only rely on overseas companies in the early stage, the cost is high, coupled with the quality problems in the early stage of industry development, the user experience of tracking solar mounts is not ideal.
It was not until 2015 that many Chinese-funded enterprises began to deploy, and tracking solar brackets began to realize domestic substitution, which reduced the cost. At that time, it coincided with the rise of national "leader" projects, and many photovoltaic projects adopted more advanced tracking solar mounts, which quickly increased the penetration rate from single digits to 20%.
However, with the reduction of "top runner" projects from 2019, the market penetration rate of tracking solar mounts in the Chinese market has declined again, and the overall development has not met expectations.
The core reason why the penetration rate of domestic tracking solar brackets has always been difficult to reach the world average level is that my country's photovoltaics have always been in the catch-up stage. Although the vast majority of photovoltaic production capacity comes from China today, the domestic application market still has a gap with that of European and American countries.
Although tracking solar mounts is a good way to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic modules, it is still not the first choice for improving efficiency compared with the iteration of cells and silicon wafers. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of adding tracking solar mounts is less prominent than choosing more advanced cells.
But learning from the neighbors, tracking the popularity of solar mounts in the U.S. market is enough to show that this technology is competitive. When China's photovoltaic projects begin to focus more on module efficiency, the alternative technology of tracking solar mounts is bound to replace traditional mounts and become the mainstream of the market.
Tracking the rise of solar mounts in the domestic market may be an inevitable industry iteration.
3. Chinese companies may become "global dark horses"
Looking at the global tracking solar bracket market structure, European and American companies have taken the lead. Although Chinese companies are in the role of chasing and their market share is not high, their growth potential is obviously better than that of European and American companies.
Looking at the present, China's photovoltaic industry has become a global hegemon. From silicon materials, to silicon wafers, to cells and modules, Chinese companies occupy a major market share. However, in the aspect of tracking solar mounts, due to the neglect of the domestic market, Chinese companies can only use overseas as their main market, and the overall market share of Chinese companies is only 12%.
However, as mentioned above, as the efficiency of silicon wafers and cells gradually reaches the bottleneck, the industry is bound to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the bracket segment. When China is tracking the solar bracket industry, there will be a rapid increase in the penetration rate.
At present, although overseas companies have a high market share, they are mainly based in local or neighboring countries. Since the penetration rate of tracking solar brackets in European and American countries is generally very high, it has almost reached the growth ceiling. Therefore, these giant companies It is difficult to grow further.
Unlike these overseas giants, China's tracking solar mount market is still in its infancy. In the absence of local market support, Chinese companies can still gain a stable market share in the fierce competition with giants. More and more attention is paid to stents, and Chinese companies have a much higher growth potential than overseas giants in the future.
Since the beginning of this year, although the prices of silicon materials and silicon wafers have both retreated, and midstream manufacturers have gained valuable breathing opportunities, the entire industry chain is still caught in a "game". The bidding price given by downstream power stations is only so much, and these profits will be divided up by enterprises in the entire industry chain, so the "involution" of photovoltaics will probably continue.
Focusing on the domestic market, tracking solar stents is still in the early stage of development, and there are not many participants in the industry. With the increase in penetration rate, this blue ocean market is expected to emerge as a star enterprise that attracts global attention.
1. Why use tracking solar mounts?
The core logic of the development of the photovoltaic industry is four words - cost reduction and efficiency increase.
In the past ten years, the cost of photovoltaic power generation has dropped by 90%. With the iterations of materials, sizes, and technologies, the photovoltaic industry has now begun to enter the "parity era". Looking to the future, further improving efficiency is still the core demand of photovoltaic companies.
For a long time, the iteration of the photovoltaic industry has mainly occurred in the link of silicon wafers and cells. In fact, in addition to these two major links, photovoltaic modules also have a lot of room for cost reduction.
solar mount system, as the name suggests, is a shelf for fixing photovoltaic modules. It mainly undertakes the important task of protecting photovoltaic modules from damage from external factors such as strong winds. Therefore, sturdiness is its most important product attribute. But in fact, this seemingly simple bracket also has room for upgrading.
The light intensity directly determines the efficiency of the module. In order to maximize the power generation efficiency of the module, the traditional fixed bracket generally chooses an installation inclination to better absorb sunlight, and this inclination often chooses the angle with the strongest light intensity in a year. Usually, this angle cannot be adjusted, or it can only be adjusted manually according to the seasonal changes of light, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Although traditional fixed brackets have chosen the seemingly optimal angle, the reality is that the sun is changing in real time, making it difficult for the components to fully absorb the light. The best angle is only relative, and most of the time, the power generation efficiency of photovoltaic modules is compromised.
In nature, sunflowers are named after their flowers are always facing the sun. Inspired by this, the industry has begun to introduce tracking solar mounts to solve the problem of solar modules absorbing light. The tracking solar bracket can be adjusted by the angle, track the movement of the sun in real time, and always make the components face the best angle of sunlight, so as to improve the power generation efficiency.
Different from the simple structure of the fixed bracket, if the tracking solar mount wants to realize the function of tracking sunlight in real time, it is necessary to add a driving system and a control system.
The control system is equivalent to tracking the "brain" of the solar mount, sending instructions to the drive system to control the real-time orientation of the mount. After the control system captures the "command", it needs to complete the adjustment of the orientation and angle of the bracket.
Tracking solar brackets makes the brackets no longer a decoration, but a key part of improving the efficiency of the modules.
According to the difference in structure, tracking solar support can be divided into two types: single-axis and double-axis. A single axis can only rotate in one plane, and can be divided into a single flat axis and a single oblique axis according to the angle of the rotation axis, which can only make the inclination angle of the light as small as possible. The angle of inclination always allows the component to absorb the strongest light.
Although dual-axis tracking solar mounts work best, the mounts must be strong enough in addition to being rotated. The current technology is immature and the cost is high. In contrast, single-axis tracking solar mounts are more cost-effective and are the most mature flat single-axis tracking solar mounts. On the basis of an increase of only about 10% of investment, a 25% increase in efficiency can be achieved. mainstream program.
Due to the need to take into account both stability and rotation characteristics, the barriers to tracking solar mounts are higher and provide the industry with more possibilities for change.
2. An inevitable industry iteration
Throughout the global market, tracking solar stents show a very obvious differentiation pattern.
In the mature market represented by the United States, the penetration rate of tracking solar stents is relatively high, close to 80%; in the domestic market, tracking solar stents are only in their infancy, and the current market penetration rate is less than 20%.
On the whole, the actual installed capacity of global tracking solar mounts in 2020 is about 35.8GW. Based on the global installed PV capacity of 81GW that year, the actual penetration rate of tracked solar mounts is about 44.2%. In general, tracking solar mounts are still in the early stage of industrial development, and there is still huge room for improvement.
As the world's largest market for tracking solar mounts, the United States acts as the industry's first mover. Not only will the industry reach a penetration rate of 77% in 2020, but many companies focusing on tracking solar mounts have also emerged. In 2020, the top three companies in the world for tracking solar mount shipments are European and American companies, with NEXTracker, Array Technologies and PV Hardware together accounting for 55% of the entire market.
With the popularity of tracking solar mounts, it has gradually gained more attention from investors. Array Technologies, which owns 19% of the global market share, has landed on the capital market in September 2020, with a current market value of about US$1.214 billion; NEXTracker, the veteran tracking solar mount leader, is also seeking the possibility of an IPO.
Unlike the fiery overseas market, the market is still relatively deserted at present, and it has not been recognized by end users.
In fact, tracking solar brackets landed earlier in China. As early as 2009, the first tracking solar bracket photovoltaic demonstration project appeared in my country. However, since the tracking of solar mounts can only rely on overseas companies in the early stage, the cost is high, coupled with the quality problems in the early stage of industry development, the user experience of tracking solar mounts is not ideal.
It was not until 2015 that many Chinese-funded enterprises began to deploy, and tracking solar brackets began to realize domestic substitution, which reduced the cost. At that time, it coincided with the rise of national "leader" projects, and many photovoltaic projects adopted more advanced tracking solar mounts, which quickly increased the penetration rate from single digits to 20%.
However, with the reduction of "top runner" projects from 2019, the market penetration rate of tracking solar mounts in the Chinese market has declined again, and the overall development has not met expectations.
The core reason why the penetration rate of domestic tracking solar brackets has always been difficult to reach the world average level is that my country's photovoltaics have always been in the catch-up stage. Although the vast majority of photovoltaic production capacity comes from China today, the domestic application market still has a gap with that of European and American countries.
Although tracking solar mounts is a good way to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic modules, it is still not the first choice for improving efficiency compared with the iteration of cells and silicon wafers. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of adding tracking solar mounts is less prominent than choosing more advanced cells.
But learning from the neighbors, tracking the popularity of solar mounts in the U.S. market is enough to show that this technology is competitive. When China's photovoltaic projects begin to focus more on module efficiency, the alternative technology of tracking solar mounts is bound to replace traditional mounts and become the mainstream of the market.
Tracking the rise of solar mounts in the domestic market may be an inevitable industry iteration.
3. Chinese companies may become "global dark horses"
Looking at the global tracking solar bracket market structure, European and American companies have taken the lead. Although Chinese companies are in the role of chasing and their market share is not high, their growth potential is obviously better than that of European and American companies.
Looking at the present, China's photovoltaic industry has become a global hegemon. From silicon materials, to silicon wafers, to cells and modules, Chinese companies occupy a major market share. However, in the aspect of tracking solar mounts, due to the neglect of the domestic market, Chinese companies can only use overseas as their main market, and the overall market share of Chinese companies is only 12%.
However, as mentioned above, as the efficiency of silicon wafers and cells gradually reaches the bottleneck, the industry is bound to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the bracket segment. When China is tracking the solar bracket industry, there will be a rapid increase in the penetration rate.
At present, although overseas companies have a high market share, they are mainly based in local or neighboring countries. Since the penetration rate of tracking solar brackets in European and American countries is generally very high, it has almost reached the growth ceiling. Therefore, these giant companies It is difficult to grow further.
Unlike these overseas giants, China's tracking solar mount market is still in its infancy. In the absence of local market support, Chinese companies can still gain a stable market share in the fierce competition with giants. More and more attention is paid to stents, and Chinese companies have a much higher growth potential than overseas giants in the future.
The success of companies such as NEXTracker and Array Technologies proves that tracking solar mounts is a good business, and the high penetration rate in overseas markets shows the importance of this technology.