Intersolar Europe, the continent’s largest and most influential international solar industry exhibition, commenced this week in Munich, Germany. GCL TECH (previous GCL-Poly Energy) continues to deeply engage the European market and focuses on exhibiting its mass-produced FBR granular silicon products at this exhibition.
Granular silicon is the other form of polysilicon produced using the Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) technology. Different from the conventional rod form polysilicon manufactured using the Siemens technology, GCL's FBR granular silicon has achieved significant technical breakthrough with notable competitive advantages.
Compared to the rod silicon, FBR granular silicon is known for its lower unit investment, cheaper operational cost, lesser carbon emissions, and higher product quality. At the end of Q1 2023, over 96% of GCL’s FBR granular silicon products had a total metal content of less than 3 ppbw and over 75% had a total metal content of less than 1 ppbw, fulfilling the usage requirements of the next generation n-type solar cells – including TOPCon, HJT and IBC.
Research study shows that granular silicon has a much lower carbon emissions in its production process with only around 37 kg of CO2 in every kilogram of production, resulting in a more than 35% carbon footprint reduction. With this low carbon characteristic, GCL’s granular silicon has earned carbon footprint certifications from both China Quality Certification Center (CQC) and French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).
Large-sized PERC modules produced using FBR granular silicon have been awarded French carbon footprint certification with an average carbon footprint of 400–450 kg CO2/kW, 10%–28% lower than the average carbon footprint of comparable module products using rod silicon.
GCL TECH has maintained continuous R&D spending in the FBR technology over the last decade despite its operational difficulties in early years, and the company finally broke through the technical bottlenecks of FBR technology and successfully realized the mass production of FBR granular silicon. At the end of 2022, the FBR granular silicon production capacity of GCL TECH reached 140,000 tons and the company is aiming to further ramp up its production capacity to 700,000 tons in next few years.
Image: Vincent Shaw
“We are very pleased to be here in Munich for the annual Intersolar Europe. As the long-established and influential PV exhibition, Intersolar gathers many old and new friends, and our participation in the exhibition means a lot to GCL TECH.” Lan Tianshi, Co-CEO of GCL TECH, said, “As a leading photovoltaic company, GCL TECH is committed to continuously reducing the solar levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) through continuous investment in R&D, thereby promoting the rapid development of photovoltaic power generation to replace the use of traditional fossil energy. The FBR granular silicon technology that GCL TECH focuses on is a disruptive technology that attempts to reduce the energy consumption of the industry chain from the upstream, where energy consumption is the largest, and the popularization of granular silicon will certainly promote the low carbonization of the PV industry chain.” Lan Tianshi further added, “GCL TECH has affirmed its overseas production capacity expansion plan and will build overseas production capacity in an orderly manner to promote the global business development.”
About GCL TECH:
Founded in 2006 and listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (03800. HK) in 2007, GCL TECH (previous name: GCL-Poly Energy) is committed to developing the most advanced solar technology, including low carbon polysilicon, CCz, wafer, perovskite module and electronic-grade polysilicon. With continuous investment in R&D, GCL TECH has commercialized the Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) technology to mass produce granular silicon with scale up to 100,000-ton. By setting up multiple R&D centers in both China and the United States, GCL TECH has recruited world-leading scientists and engineers for technology development and has established strategic partnerships with top international universities and scientific and technological R&D institutions.
