Chinese PV Industry Brief: TCL acquires Zhonghuan, distributed-generation PV soars

Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor has been acquired by TCL, as the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer won an auction to buy shares of its parent, state-owned Zhonghuan Electronic Information Group. TCL said it plans to split the Shanghai-listed solar manufacturer into three companies. It will inject more than RMB2 billion ($285.8 million) to help Zhonghuan develop its semiconductor and PV businesses.

China's National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Wednesday that new residential PV installations hit 767.5 MW in June – a monthly record. The statistics are based on data from all provincial energy administrations except Tibet. Shandong province again took the lead with 330 MW of additions, followed by Hebei province with 168 MW of new PV capacity. The NEA said China's cumulative installed residential PV capacity had reached 2.04 GW by the end of June.

Datang Group announced the results of its strategic purchase of PV module products for fiscal 2020-21, with Longi, JA Solar, Trina Solar, JinkoSolar and Risen Energy emerging as the winners. The state-owned group plans to buy about 5.5 GW in total, including 4.2 MW pf normal purchases and 1.3 GW of reserve purchases.

Solargiga provided a brief first-half update this week by signaling expectations for an unaudited jump in revenue from RMB1.84 billion in the first six months of last year to RMB2.6 billion this year. Its volume of external shipments of silicon ingots, wafers, cells and modules also rose from 1.6 GW to 2.86 GW in the first half, the Hong Kong-listed solar manufacturer said.