On July 28, the intelligent upgrading and renovation project for the 14GW BC high-efficiency photovoltaic cell production line of DAS Solar Technology (Xinzhou) Co., Ltd. , a controlling subsidiary of TCL Zhonghuan , officially received filing approval.
With a proposed total investment of approximately 1.18 billion yuan, the project will utilize existing plant facilities to re-plan and reconfigure the production area, raw material and finished product storage areas, and auxiliary production facilities. It will phase out existing laser-induced sintering equipment and laser boron-doped SE (selective emitter) equipment, while retrofitting existing LP automation equipment, ALD (atomic layer deposition) passivation equipment, dual-track screen printers, and other machinery. The project will also acquire advanced domestic LP and patterning-related equipment, non-contact testing devices, baking ovens, and supporting environmental protection facilities, alongside optimizing and upgrading software systems to achieve intelligent production line enhancements. Upon completion, the project will achieve an annual capacity of 14GW of BC high-efficiency PV cells.
Previously, TCL Zhonghuan released an announcement regarding capacity upgrade and renovation projects at its BC cell and module bases. The announcement noted that the company acquired DAS Solar and plans to upgrade the 14GW TOPCon cell capacity in Xinzhou to the BC technology route. The implementing entity of the project is its controlling subsidiary, DAS Solar Technology (Xinzhou) Co., Ltd. The project is scheduled to launch in July 2026, with production expected to phase in starting by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
Recently, photovoltaic companies have been accelerating the upgrade and retrofitting of existing production lines centered on high-efficiency cell technology routes. In July, companies including LONGi Green Energy , JA Solar , and SANY Silicon Energy successively disclosed technical renovation projects for their cell and module production lines.
Among them, LONGi Green Energy plans to invest 1.582 billion yuan to implement HPBC 2.0 cell technology retrofits in Workshops A201 and A202 at its Ordos base. By updating equipment and optimizing process engineering, the conversion efficiency of the cells will be improved, boosting the production capacity of each workshop from 5.355GW to 5.67GW.
JA Solar plans to invest 210 million yuan in a perovskite tandem technology retrofit for module production lines at its Yangzhou base. It will upgrade one 72-cell format module production line into a perovskite tandem module production line (0.6GW/year). Upon completion, the overall annual capacity of the project will remain unchanged at 10GW/year.
SANY Silicon Energy plans to invest 3 billion yuan to technically upgrade its 5GW solar cell mass production project in Zhuzhou. Relying on its self-developed PEpoly passivation technology route, it aims to build a new IBC cell mass production line.
Judging from recent project layouts, PV companies are leveraging technical renovations to introduce high-efficiency technology routes—such as TOPCon, HPBC, IBC, and perovskite tandems—into existing capacity. This approach avoids large-scale additions of new capacity while accelerating the structural optimization of existing production lines.
Source：EnergyTrend