Recently, TCL Zhonghuan and Tongwei, two photovoltaic giants, have had disputes over patents.
According to the announcement of TCL Central, it received a notice from its subsidiary Maxeon that Tongwei Solar Energy (Hefei) Co., Ltd. Maxeon's European Patent No. EP3522045 B1 ( "Shingled Solar Cell Module") was used without permission. Maxeon's subsidiary has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tongwei Solar and its subsidiaries, claiming rights.
Tongwei responded on its official website on June 20, saying that the current information could not show that the company's related products infringed Maxeon's European patent, and that it had hired lawyers to actively respond to the lawsuit and claim its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law. As of June 29, TCL Central has not yet responded to this.
TCL Zhonghuan is the global leader in the manufacturing of silicon wafers in the photovoltaic industry . Since 2021, the company has the largest sales scale of silicon wafers to the outside world. At present, the production capacity of silicon single crystal has reached 140GW. And differentiated layout of imbricated, IBC, TOPCon battery components, gradually realize the extension of the whole industry chain coverage, business layout in the world. In 2022, TCL Central's revenue and net profit were 67 billion yuan and 6.8 billion yuan respectively.
From the response of Tongwei shares, it is a supplier partnership with TCL Central. It said, "For a long time, the company has maintained a good cooperative relationship with TCL Zhonghuan. As a long-term supplier of batteries for the production of TCL Zhonghuan shingled components, the two sides have maintained continuous communication and exchanges on the production technology of shingled batteries."
According to Interface News, on June 21, TCL Zhonghuan Photovoltaic Cell Project was officially started in Huangpu, Guangzhou, which is the first time that TCL Zhonghuan has made batteries.
According to the plan, TCL Zhonghuan will invest 10.6 billion yuan to build 25 GW solar cell industry 4.0 smart factory project, which mainly produces G12N TOPCon batteries. It is planned to be completed and put into operation in 2024, with an estimated output value of 16 billion yuan. This is also the first large-scale photovoltaic manufacturing project introduced by Guangzhou.
In an investor relations event in May this year, TCL Zhonghuan mentioned that this year, N-type is a relatively definite trend, the industry's N-type capacity construction progress is relatively fast, and it is expected to enter the TOPCon capacity explosion period in the second half of the year.
According to the data, Tongwei shares are the first batch of enterprises in the industry to invest in GW HJT and TOPCon technology pilot line. According to Guohai Securities Research Report, as of March 2023, there are no less than five companies with TOPCon technology in the global mass production of photovoltaic modules, of which only Tongwei shares have shingled modules. Efficiency ranking of
global mass-produced PV modules Source: Guohai Securities
According to the research report of Guohai Securities, TCL Zhonghuan has completed the production capacity of 12 GW shingled modules by 2022, and is expected to continue to expand to 30 GW in 2023. With the successful completion of the above-mentioned TOPCon battery project, the company may compete with Tongwei shares in this business.
According to the relevant announcement of TCL Zhonghuan, the company's construction of 25 GW solar cell industry 4.0 smart factory project will be funded by fund-raising, and from the application materials, there are some uncertainties in the project, Shenzhen Stock Exchange has also made relevant inquiries. Uncertain investment cash flow of
new projects is negative
all the year round. TCL Zhonghuan issued a refinancing plan in May this year, intending to issue convertible bonds again to raise funds.
According to the prospectus of TCL Zhonghuan, the convertible bonds are expected to raise 13.8 billion yuan. After the issuance, the company's cumulative bond balance accounts for no more than 50% of the company's net assets at the end of the latest period.
The fund raised will be used for the annual output of 35 GW high-purity solar ultra-thin monocrystalline silicon wafer smart factory project and TCL Zhonghuan 25 G W N TOPCon high-efficiency solar cell industry 4.0 smart factory project (hereinafter referred to as "Project II"). The amount of funds to be raised for these two projects is 3.5 billion yuan and 10.3 billion yuan respectively. After the
former project is put into production, the estimated annual revenue is 16.3 billion yuan and the annual net profit is 1.7 billion yuan; the corresponding income of the second project is 14.6 billion yuan and 1.5 billion yuan respectively.
According to Dongcai choice data, TCL Central has raised funds eight times since 2008, mostly for project expansion or supplementary liquidity. Profile
of
the company's additional issuance over the years Data source: TCL Central has generated a considerable amount of goodwill and fixed assets under the expansion of Dongcai choice
. According to the declaration materials, at the end of the latest period, the company's commercial value was 1.4 billion yuan, the book value of fixed assets was 25.3 billion yuan, 29.6 billion yuan, 41.6 billion yuan and 47.3 billion yuan respectively, and the book value of construction in progress was 7.7 billion yuan, 9 billion yuan, 13.9 billion yuan and 15.3 billion yuan respectively.
Judging from the project situation, there are still some projects that have not been fully put into operation, including the ultra-thin silicon single crystal project.
In 2019, TCL Zhonghuan will raise funds for the construction of an intelligent factory with an annual output of 30GW high-purity solar ultra-thin silicon single crystal materials (hereinafter referred to as "30GW ultra-thin silicon single crystal project"). The company's additional fund-raising projects include 50GW (G12) solar grade monocrystalline silicon material intelligent factory project (hereinafter referred to as "50GW monocrystalline silicon project"). According to the plan, the two monocrystalline silicon projects are expected to reach the usable state in June 2023. The declaration materials show that the project has not yet been fully put into production.
In addition, from the perspective of cash flow performance, the company is still in a state of "blood loss". In the first quarter of 2020-2023, the net investment cash flow of the company was negative all the year round, and in the first quarter of 2022 and 2023, the amount of the index was-16.3 billion yuan and-1.6 billion yuan, while the net operating cash flow in the same period was 5.1 billion yuan and 1 billion yuan, and the net cash inflow from the company's operating commodities was far from filling the gap in the expansion of production lines. It needs to fill the gap through financing and borrowing. In the same period, the company's asset-liability ratio was 57% and 54% respectively. Cash flow profile
of
the Company Source: Announcement
of the Company It is noteworthy that, as of the release of the application materials, among the projects that the Company plans to raise funds for construction this year, the environmental impact assessment and land of Project II have not yet been obtained, which represents that there are significant uncertainties in the project. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange raised questions in the inquiry letter on the audit of this round of convertible bonds, asking about the latest progress of the EIA of the second project, the expected time to obtain the EIA, and whether the project has fulfilled the relevant approval procedures.
At the same time, the production capacity of TCL Central's main products still has some room for utilization, and the capacity utilization rate of some products is still declining. In the first quarter of 2023, the company's capacity utilization rate of photovoltaic wafers was 88%, which reached 96% in 2020. The capacity utilization rate of other silicon materials and photovoltaic modules is 72% and 83% respectively.
The utilization rate of production capacity is not saturated, the relevant important documents of the second project have not yet been obtained, and the 30GW ultra-thin silicon single crystal project raised in 2019 has not yet been fully put into operation, so the necessity and use of TCL Zhonghuan's fund-raising should be questioned.
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