Does the photovoltaic industry leave pollution to China?

Solar energy brings pollution to China? Recently, the Chinese Academy of Sciences academician Fei Weiyang said in his speech entitled "Developing Low-Carbon Technologies and Promoting Energy Saving and Emission Reduction" that "the production of solar energy products will keep pollution in China." This statement was also supported by this reporter's interview with Han Tianen, chief climate change and energy consul of the British Consulate General in Guangzhou. He said that 90% of the solar consumer market is in developed countries, while 100% of raw material production is in developing countries, which means “to keep pollution in developing countries”.

One stone has stirred up thousands of waves, and new energy is one of China's strategic emerging industries. Among them, solar photovoltaic power generation, as a representative of clean energy, has always been regarded as a promising green industry. Nowadays, the upstream of the photovoltaic industry—polysilicon production is suffering from pollution. The process of producing polysilicon in most domestic manufacturers is high, and the large amount of toxic by-product silicon tetrachloride is difficult to recycle.

Sunshine industry hidden pollution concerns
“The prospects for solar power generation are good,” said Academician Fei Weiyang, a standard commercial solar photovoltaic panel that converts 12% to 18% of solar energy into usable electricity, while high-end models can achieve efficiencies of more than 20%.

Although “power generation technology is not mature enough and the cost is relatively high”, Fei Weiyang stated that “the cost of photovoltaic cells may drop to one tenth of the current in the next 10 or 20 years”.

Behind the bright future, there have been hidden hidden dangers.

As early as 2008, CCTV had investigated the largest polysilicon enterprise in China, Luoyang Zhongsi High-Tech Co., Ltd. In a clearing of the factory, the reporter saw a bubble like snow, which is the last waste discharged from the factory. . Luoyang Zhongwa Company and the local environmental protection department said that Luoyang Zhongsi has indeed recovered the highly toxic tail gas and by-products produced in polysilicon production; on the other hand, experts also told reporters that the current domestic technology does not have the ability to cure pollution. . However, domestic investment in polysilicon is becoming a boom, and all parties are interested in dig a golden mountain from polysilicon.

Previously, there were rumors that local polysilicon factories polluted the environment in Henan. According to local media reports, some villagers in Zhangjiazhuang, Chengjiao Township, Linzhou City, Henan Province, suffered from chest tightness, nausea, red eyes and weakness of the limbs. Due to similar symptoms, the villagers suspected that this was related to a polysilicon project started in the local area at the beginning of the year. Due to the people's hearts, the suburban township government conducted a special investigation for this, which was attributed to an accident at the polysilicon plant.

In an interview with CCTV, Prof. Wang Zhanguo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was worried about the possible environmental pollution caused by a large number of domestic polysilicon projects, because the existing technologies of these projects cannot completely solve the problem of recycling of by-products.

High pollution is passed on to developing countries
Until now, this situation has not changed significantly.

Now European governments are using preferential policies to support enterprises to vigorously develop the solar photovoltaic industry, and also use subsidies to encourage the public to use solar energy. "But for reasons that are well known, European countries do not want to produce polysilicon in their own countries, and they have put polysilicon production in developing countries," said Han Tianen, chief climate change and energy consul of the British Consulate General in Guangzhou.

"At present, most polysilicon manufacturers in the world use closed-loop modified Siemens method to produce polysilicon. This technology can basically meet the environmental protection requirements; but the non-closed-loop so-called modified Siemens method with relatively backward technology produces polysilicon, which not only consumes energy. High, and caused pollution to the ecological environment." Academician Wang Zhanguo is worried about this. At present, most domestic polysilicon manufacturers use the latter.

Academician Fei Weiyang pointed out that the Chinese solar energy production plant left a large amount of waste in China and the pollution was serious. Polysilicon is the basic material of the information industry and the photovoltaic industry. It belongs to high-energy and high-pollution products. The total power consumption from the production of industrial silicon to solar cells is about 2.2 million kWh. ”

At the same time "in the production of polysilicon, it will also produce eight times its silicon tetrachloride, a highly polluting toxic liquid," and its "reuse is expensive, most Chinese companies have not installed or not fully installed related recycling Equipment, the harmless treatment of silicon tetrachloride will become a bottleneck restricting the development of polysilicon.

Paradox of excess capacity
So what attracted investors to the polysilicon industry? "Polysilicon from $40/kg in 2005 to a maximum of $400/kg in 2008, and the step-by-step profit margin has attracted a lot of money." Recalling the polysilicon investment boom of previous years, a person in charge of the China Electronic Materials Industry Association pointed to the surge in profits caused by price hikes.

At that time, with the severe energy situation caused by the continuous rise in international oil prices, the demand for new energy was re-emerged, the photovoltaic industry boom reappeared, and polysilicon was in short supply due to the shortage of “chickens and dogs”, and all over the country were competing for polysilicon projects, and it became a darling of the capital market. - As long as the polysilicon is on the side, the stock price will always be at a high price. Since 2007, 99% of listed companies investing in solar energy have set their sights on polysilicon manufacturing.

With the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the price of polysilicon fell rapidly, and the boom in the construction of polysilicon projects suddenly cooled down. Since the beginning of this year, with the strong demand in the international market, polysilicon prices have begun to soar. China's solar cell production has ranked first in the world for three consecutive years, accounting for 40% of world production.

In September last year, the Development and Reform Commission and other departments "Some Opinions on Suppressing Overcapacity in Some Industries and Repeated Construction to Guide the Healthy Development of the Industry" clearly included the inclusion of polysilicon in the redundant construction industry, which pointed out that "2008 China's polysilicon production capacity was 20,000 tons. About 4,000 tons, the capacity under construction is about 80,000 tons, and the production capacity has been obviously surplus. China's photovoltaic power generation market is developing slowly, 98% of domestic solar cells are used for export, which is equivalent to a large amount of energy that is scarce in China.

However, the Ministry of Science and Technology has different judgments on the problem of overcapacity in polysilicon. According to a survey conducted by the Strategic Research Institute of the Ministry of Science and Technology, although China's polysilicon production capacity has expanded rapidly, the polysilicon industry has been in short supply due to the construction cycle and market fluctuations.

At present, the polysilicon core technology--trichlorosilane reduction method is monopolized by a few companies in the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries, and it is difficult for Chinese companies to obtain key technologies. In the high-end polysilicon material production process in the industrial chain, since the core technology process is not fully mastered, the reduction and recycling process in the exhaust gas has not been realized. Even if you have these equipments, if the process technology is not well mastered, it will not only pollute the environment, but also directly affect the purity of the products. Wang Zhanguo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out.

Raise the threshold and make money
A series of policies are still in the pipeline or are being introduced.

According to the "Several Opinions on Suppressing Overcapacity in Some Industries and Repeated Construction to Guide the Healthy Development of the Industry", the size of the new polysilicon project must be greater than 3,000 tons, the floor space is less than 6 hectares, and the solar polysilicon reduction power consumption is less than 60 kWh/kg. The recovery rate of silicon chloride, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen in the tail gas should not be lower than 98.5%, 99% and 99%; by 2011, the polysilicon production capacity with integrated power consumption greater than 200 kWh/kg should be eliminated.

After the introduction of this opinion, many bosses opposed it, and industry associations also screamed. For small-scale enterprises, strict implementation may mean a significant increase in costs and even closure. But from the perspective of long-term development of the industry and energy conservation and emission reduction, this decision is correct. Said Fei Weiyang.

The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed at the symposium on polysilicon market analysis and technology development in June that the “Plastic Industry Access Conditions” has entered the stage of soliciting opinions from relevant departments of the State Council, and relevant departments may also subsidize the comprehensive utilization of polysilicon by-products. The "Plastic Industry Access Conditions" is aimed at the industry's energy consumption (three or four times that of foreign countries), pollution, and rapid expansion and redundant construction leading to overcapacity.

Zhu Hongren, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the polysilicon industry entry barrier is being revised, and the industry's energy conservation, environmental protection, quality, safety, production and other aspects will be revised to form a “suitable high standard, which is conducive to the healthy development of our new energy industry. It is conducive to the entry barrier of the healthy development of the polysilicon industry."

According to the criteria in the consultation, among the more than 40 polysilicon enterprises in China, only the top 15 polysilicon enterprises “are fully in compliance with relevant requirements”. Among the more than 40 enterprises, there are about 20 environmental problems, and a few enterprises have relatively large energy consumption due to process problems, and there are certain hidden dangers. After the introduction of the standard, the capital market will make a comprehensive consideration of polysilicon investment. "Including government restrictions, market demand, international competition and other factors, investment in small-scale factories will be tightened or even fully retreated.

In Sichuan and Jiangxi, where the polysilicon industry is booming, since last year, it has also begun to regulate the side effects of polysilicon production by improving local access regulations and strengthening pollution inspections. Sichuan has suspended the approval of the polysilicon industry to expand its production capacity in June this year.

Carbon trading or decontamination of funds
"To change this situation, the design of the new energy industry should start from the entire industrial chain, in order to solve the problem of causing major pollution in the production of polysilicon to developing countries." In the view of Han Tianen, from the perspective of the entire solar energy industry chain Solar energy is pollution-free and low-energy, but the production process is highly polluting and non-low-carbon. Therefore, the countries that use the final link should compensate the countries that produce the materials, and the compensation funds must be used to solve the polysilicon. Production pollution and high energy consumption. Only by establishing such a mechanism can funds be invested in solving the pollution problem in the production of polysilicon.

He said that the current solution to the pollution problem in the new energy production process depends on the global trade fairness. Only through negotiation can the developed countries add the cost of pollution to the cost of the final solar energy use.

"After the new energy production has implemented carbon trading, this problem is easy to solve." He said that polysilicon production is a process of energy consumption. To produce a large amount of carbon dioxide, there is a carbon displacement, if the developed countries want Buying raw materials for the production of solar energy from developing countries must purchase the carbon emissions generated, and developing countries can use this money to solve the technical problems of pollution.

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