LONGi, China's leading mono-si supplier, has targeted expanding its mono-si wafer capacities significantly in the next three years, reaching 28 GW in 2018, 36 GW in 2019, and 45 GW in 2020, according to its three-year strategic plan (2018-2020), unveiled in January this year. In order to secure polysilicon supply which is essential for attaining the goals, LONGi has inked long-term contracts for polysilicon materials with TW Solar’s subsidiary company Yongxiang, Daqo New Energy, and OCI of Korea this year.  

The contracts call for purchase of polysilicon totaling 159,200 tons, around 48 GW, in volume during the three-year period, which is sufficient for attaining the goals. However, the shipment volume for LONGi will likely reach 300 million pieces, equivalent to 1.5 GW, monthly, in 2018. According to statistics from the gold member report from EnergyTrend, the supply amount included in the contracts will be insufficient for LONGi to attain its goal this year. As a result, it will have to seek more supply sources for high-quality polysilicon materials in the future.  

A more detailed breakdown of LONGi’s three-year purchase plan can be seen below*:

Note*: The figures of the table are the estimated output volumes of polysilicon materials of various suppliers, based on the gold member report database of EnergyTrend. The contract with OCI is worth US$1 billion in scale, equivalent to 65,000 MT  

Apart from the aforementioned TW Solar, Daqo, and OCI, the industry’s other suppliers of quality silicon materials include Xinte Energy, Wacker, REC, and Hemlock. Xinte's output volume will likely reach 18,000 tons by the end of the year.  

(Analysis offered by Sharon Chen, analyst at EnergyTrend)