Photovoltaic glass that can turn buildings into batteries

Solar photovoltaic glass is a type of low iron silicate glass, also known as ultra white embossed glass. It is a new type of glass product that can convert solar energy into electrical energy, consisting of low iron glass, solar cells, film, back glass, and special metal wires.

Photovoltaic glass has strong applications in crystalline silicon solar cells. Due to the poor mechanical strength of crystalline silicon cells, they are prone to breakage. Moisture and corrosive gases in the air will gradually oxidize and corrode the electrodes, making them unable to withstand the harsh conditions of outdoor work. Therefore, solar cells are usually packaged with photovoltaic glass through EVA and backplate. Photovoltaic glass plays a role in protecting the battery from moisture erosion, blocking oxygen to prevent oxidation, withstanding high and low temperatures, good insulation and aging resistance in photovoltaic modules.

At the same time, due to its ability to prevent environmental factors such as dust, moisture, and snow accumulation, photovoltaic glass is increasingly being used in various fields such as building curtain walls, display cabinets, photovoltaic roofs, sun shading, solar power generation systems, and more.

Advantages and disadvantages of photovoltaic glass itself

Advantages:

1. Beautiful appearance

Due to the iron content in the raw materials being only 1/10 or even lower than that of ordinary glass, there are fewer impurities. Photovoltaic glass absorbs less green light in the visible spectrum compared to ordinary glass, ensuring the consistency of glass color.

2. High visible light transmittance and good transparency

Visible light transmittance greater than 91.5%, with a crystal like quality that is crystal clear.  

3. Low UV transmittance

Compared to ordinary glass, photovoltaic glass has lower absorption in the ultraviolet band. When used in places that protect against ultraviolet radiation, such as museums, it can effectively reduce the passage of ultraviolet radiation, slow down the fading and aging of various exhibits in display cabinets, and have a more significant effect on cultural relic protection.  

4. Large market, high technological content, and strong profitability

Photovoltaic glass has relatively high technological content, difficult production control, and relatively strong profitability compared to ordinary glass. 

Disadvantages:

1. High production difficulty

The widely used photovoltaic glass currently has a disadvantage, which is a certain self explosion rate. If the tempered photovoltaic glass explodes on the photovoltaic module, it will cause fatal damage to the photovoltaic module and result in significant loss of value. In addition, the continuity of glass production is strong, and photovoltaic glass products with poor quality need to be reheated, which will bring additional costs to the production enterprise.

2. High requirements for production scale

At present, the photovoltaic glass industry has formed a large-scale competitive pattern, and only larger enterprises can win market competition in terms of product quality, supply, and price.

3. Long certification cycle

Photovoltaic glass, as an indispensable component of photovoltaic modules, needs to enter the certification process together with the module products. Photovoltaic modules exported to the European Union, the United States, and Japan must obtain local product quality certification. Replacement of packaging glass requires re certification, which is time-consuming and costly.

4. High dependence on policy subsidies

Due to the fact that the cost of solar power generation is still higher than that of conventional energy sources, in order to promote the development of clean energy, major global photovoltaic markets, including China, have provided financial subsidies for the application of solar energy. Once governments around the world cancel or reduce financial subsidies, it will affect the installed capacity of the photovoltaic market, thereby affecting upstream component companies and photovoltaic glass companies.

The Development of Solar Photovoltaic Glass in China

The photovoltaic glass industry, as an important branch of the photovoltaic industry, started relatively late in China's development. Before 2006, China's photovoltaic industry began to take off. At that time, the technical barriers to glass in the photovoltaic industry were relatively high, and the domestic market demand was not large. There was no domestic enterprise producing photovoltaic glass, and most of them relied on imports. At that time, the import price of photovoltaic glass was as high as 80 yuan/m2 or more. Around 2006, China's photovoltaic industry began to develop. Stimulated by demand and profits, domestic enterprises in China began to introduce and develop photovoltaic glass, and further put it into production, achieving the localization of photovoltaic glass. Around 2017, after ten years of development and accumulation, China's photovoltaic glass firmly established itself in the domestic market and gradually began to move towards the international market.

Nowadays, China is the world's largest producer of photovoltaic glass, with over 90% of the world's crystalline silicon modules using photovoltaic glass produced in China. China's photovoltaic glass has obvious advantages in quality and cost compared to foreign enterprises.

The government's policy encouragement for renewable energy is a key driving force for the development of the global solar photovoltaic glass market. This may be the main driving force for the solar photovoltaic glass market in the near future, and product research cannot be separated from strong government support.

Solar energy is gradually becoming the mainstream new energy source for clean energy. Currently, all solar cells require glass encapsulation to resist natural forces such as wind, rain, and snow. The damage caused by hail and other factors not only provides protection but also ensures sufficient sunlight transmittance. As the substrate material for solar photovoltaic conversion systems, the industrialization of photovoltaic glass has fundamentally promoted the continuous expansion of the world's photovoltaic industry production scale.

With the maturity of the industry's technological framework, the price of solar photovoltaic glass is gradually decreasing, which will also become the main driving force for the development of the solar photovoltaic glass market. At present, the residential sector in China is more sensitive to innovative products such as solar photovoltaic glass than the industrial and commercial sectors, so this sector may occupy the main share of the solar photovoltaic glass market.