G-Poly, the "leader" of H-share photovoltaics, officially announced that the company had successfully completed the acquisition of SunEdison in the United States on March 31, US time. SunEdison was once one of the world's leading clean energy asset companies.
As early as August last year, GCL-Poly announced that the company had signed agreements with SunEdison companies in the United States. GCL-Poly will acquire SunEdison and its subsidiaries SunEdison Products Singapore, MEMC Pasadena and Some of Solaicx's technologies and assets.
However, there were still many uncertainties in the acquisition at that time, including whether there were other bidding competitions, and the decision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Foreign Investment Commission, Review results of relevant authorities in Singapore.
Today, GCL-Poly announced the completion of the acquisition of SunEdison in the United States, which means that the above obstacles have been overcome one by one.
Improve the silane fluidized bed industry chain
It is worth mentioning that, unlike the plan, GCL-Poly has not acquired the equity of South Korea's SMP. According to industry insiders, "This is focused on technology acquisitions. For example, it does not acquire existing manufacturing plants and production lines in the United States and South Korea, but only receives U.S. technology and R & D personnel, and does not assume debts for Korean projects."
As a result, GCL-Poly's acquisition of SunEdison will acquire electronic grade silane fluidized bed granular silicon technology and assets, the fifth-generation CCZ continuous straight-pull single crystal technology and assets, and related "dry goods" including related equipment and intellectual property rights.
Among them, with regard to electronic grade silane fluidized bed granular silicon technology, GCL-Poly related persons believe that "Although most domestic crystalline silicon manufacturing companies are still adopting traditional Siemens improved technology, they will definitely be more advanced silane fluidized bed technology in the future. Replace ".
The silane fluidized bed granular silicon technology is exactly the technology developed by SunEdison subsidiary MEMC Pasadena. The industry is generally optimistic about fluidized bed technology and is considered to be the most promising new technology to significantly reduce the cost of polysilicon and single crystal silicon.
Materials industry experts said that compared with the traditional Siemens improved production technology, silane fluidized bed technology has two outstanding benefits. The silane fluidized bed method selected by GCL undertook the trichlorosilane raw material of the modified Siemens method, using part of the process of the modified Siemens method, which is significantly shorter than the modified Siemens method, and it completely reflects few by-products. The energy consumption is greatly saved. The power consumption of the silane fluidized bed is below 25 degrees, which is about 35% of the best Siemens improvement technology available. The cost is greatly reduced, which is half of the best Siemens improvement technology available.
As a matter of fact, GCL-Poly has already started a new silane fluidized bed process based on improved Siemens polysilicon technology since 2013. Its 10,000-ton silane and 3,000-ton fluidized bed projects were put into trial production in 2015.
Layout efficient N-type single crystal
In May 2015, GCL-Poly established Ningxia GCL-Crystal Technology Development Co., Ltd., which began to produce monocrystalline silicon wafers in the first quarter of 2016. However, GCL-Poly is reluctant to make repeated investments in ordinary straight-pull single crystals, and is instead focused on efficient N-type single crystals. Among them, the ingot single crystal is used instead of the ordinary single crystal. "After customer verification, the conversion efficiency of the ingot single crystal silicon wafer is equivalent to that of the straight-drawn single crystal, but it significantly reduces the energy consumption cost of production. GCL can also The market's demand for single polycrystalline silicon wafers can be realized only by thermal field transformation of existing ingot casting equipment. "Relevant industry insiders told reporters.
This time, GCL-Poly's unique technology acquired through the acquisition of SunEdison, the fifth generation CCZ continuous straight-pull single crystal technology, can make the distribution of crystal efficiency more uniform and larger output. "In the previous straight-drawing technology, a silicon rod can be pulled out more than about 2 meters. Later, several feedings have been tried, but it is not continuous. After the new technology is adopted, a crucible can continuously pull 2-3 pieces. Rods, each silicon rod is more than 4 meters long, can be continuously fed and pulled continuously, the cost will be greatly reduced, and the conversion rate of crystal production will be higher. "Said the industry insider.
GCL-Poly's announcement states that the acquisition can "substantially improve the efficiency and quality of crystal pulling of its monocrystalline ingot production." If this technology can be quantified as capacity, then the cost advantage of GCL-Poly's monocrystalline silicon production will become apparent. . Polysilicon wafers, which are the mainstay of the business, have also significantly reduced costs through the comprehensive introduction of diamond wire cutting, which has once again widened the gap in ordinary P-type single-crystal technology in the market, achieving both single-crystal and poly-crystal, and further consolidating and improving its leading position in photovoltaic raw materials.
Public information shows that SunEdison, formerly known as MEMC, was once the American solar giant and the world's largest developer of clean energy. Founded in 1959, the company is one of the world's leading ancestors of silicon materials for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries. The company has provided polysilicon raw materials, silicon wafers and other products for the world's leading photovoltaic module companies for a long time, and gradually expanded into the field of photovoltaic power station development in 2010. Due to poor management due to excessive expansion after entering the field of power station development, the company formally submitted Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection application on April 19, 2016 and entered the bankruptcy reorganization stage.
In contrast, GCL-Poly, in 2016, GCL-Poly produced 69,345 metric tons of polysilicon and sold 9,951 metric tons; it produced 17.33 GW of silicon wafers and sold 17.52 GW. Among them, the global market share of polysilicon products is about 23%, and the global market share of silicon wafer products is about 30%, both ranking first in the world. In the industry's view, GCL-Poly's performance can fully support this merger, and SunEdison just entered the stage of bankruptcy and reorganization, which provides an excellent opportunity for the successful completion of this merger.