Yingli Group Liang Tian: To take advantage of photovoltaic advantages

Once upon a time, the photovoltaic industry was a model of clean energy. However, with people's deep understanding of the photovoltaic industry, its potential environmental risks have gradually surfaced, in particular, the production process of polycrystalline silicon components has been criticized.

Even so, the country’s determination to vigorously develop the photovoltaic industry has not been shaken. After all, the photovoltaic industry has continuously supplied clean, green electricity to humans. It is precisely because of this that the photovoltaic industry shoulders more environmental responsibility than other brother industries.

On February 6, Liang Tian, ​​director of public relations of Yingli Group, interviewed for the environmental protection potential of the photovoltaic industry.

Q: What contribution has the PV industry made to environmental protection?

Liang Tian: Taking Yingli as an example, in the 25 years since its establishment, the company has sold 3,680 MW of photovoltaic modules. These components can generate 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours annually, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.26 million tons, sulfur dioxide by 70,000 tons, save 3.12 million tons of standard coal, and accumulate more than 200 million yuan in environmental protection investment. It is precisely because of this, Yingli was rated as an “environmentally friendly company” by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Today, Yingli has grown from a 12-person startup to a multinational company with assets of 36.6 billion yuan, 24,000 employees, and 73 subsidiary companies. It has branches in 12 countries including the United States, Germany, Italy and Spain. With a total construction area of ​​1.71 billion square meters, the total product production capacity exceeds 2,000 megawatts.

Q: How will Yingli respond to the environmental concerns in the photovoltaic industry?

Liang Tian: Over the years, Yingli has persisted in the development of environmental protection investment and the development scale of the company. Through the implementation of the green full-industry chain plan, the development of energy-saving power equipment and water-renovation projects, the power consumption per kilowatt of polycrystalline modules has increased since 2007. The 520 degrees dropped to the current 380 degrees, a drop of 27%, and the water consumption per kilowatt module dropped from 6.3 tons in 2007 to 3.6 tons, a drop of 43%.

Yingli has invested over 200 million yuan in the implementation of transformation of environmental protection facilities and has actively participated in the WWF's "carbon emission reduction pioneer project", becoming the first photovoltaic company to join the organization.

Q: How can Yingli take advantage of weaknesses and maximize its PV advantage?

Liang Tian: Independent innovation. Yingli Technological Innovation has invested a total of RMB 1.7 billion and has formed a technical team of more than 1,100 people composed of senior engineers, doctors and masters.

At present, the conversion efficiency of Yingli polycrystalline silicon battery has increased from 12% in 2004 to 18.87%, the single crystal N-type “panda” battery has reached 20%, and the mass production conversion efficiency has reached 18.9%, making Yingli become the world's 3 most efficient solar energy producers. One of the largest and most efficient solar cell manufacturers in China.