On April 1st, reporters from First Financial visited the GCL-Poly Energy Wuhu base, where company executives shared insights about production capacity, photovoltaic technology advancements, and plans for mass production of new products. As of February 2025, the company has achieved a battery efficiency of over 27.5% with its GPC2.0 battery, and it is expected to launch the GPC3.0 product in the second quarter of this year, with an efficiency anticipated to exceed 27.8%.
GCL-Poly Energy, a subsidiary of GCL Group listed on the A-share market, has seen significant growth in its photovoltaic module business, which has increasingly contributed to its revenue. Over the past two years, the revenue share from this segment has risen, while the share from system integration has decreased. By the end of 2024, the company had established three major production bases in Hefei, Wuhu, and Funing, with an annual production capacity of 30GW for high-efficiency modules and 16GW for N-type TOPCon batteries.
The Wuhu base primarily focuses on TOPCon battery production but also has reserves for BC battery and tandem technology. In late 2024, the company launched the GPC2.0 high-efficiency module based on BC technology. During the visit, company management expressed optimism about the ramp-up speed of GPC efficiency, which has exceeded expectations, potentially leading to earlier-than-anticipated mass production. They reported a 0.4 percentage point increase from December to February for GPC2.0 efficiency.
To reduce costs, the company is implementing technologies such as metallic silver-free and 0BB (no main grid). Future capacity releases will depend on efficiency improvements. The company’s executive director of the silicon research institute, Weng Hang, noted that the diverse demands of the distributed market require a multifaceted approach, hence the strategic focus on BC technology. GCL-Poly has filed multiple patents for its GPC products, with the number of applications increasing annually.
Weng also highlighted the differences between BC and TOPCon technologies. While technical comparisons are often debated among experts, market acceptance ultimately determines the success of a technology. He believes that BC technology currently has clear advantages in distributed applications compared to TOPCon.
In 2025, GCL-Poly plans to continue with a 4.842 billion yuan private placement to fund the second phase of its 10GW battery project in Wuhu and to strengthen its working capital. The company also intends to upgrade part of the TOPCon production lines at Xuzhou Xinyao to BC battery capacity, with an initial planned capacity of 12GW.
President Jiang Weipeng has stated that N-type technology represents the future trend of industrial upgrades. Among the various sub-directions of N-type technology, he noted that TOPCon has better industrialization and commercial value potential. There is still room for improvement in conversion efficiency based on existing TOPCon technology, which can also be integrated with BC, perovskite, and heterojunction technologies.
The market environment for overseas sales has changed significantly in recent years. The head of the market department mentioned that overseas markets previously contributed high margins and revenue, accounting for 60% of the company’s global shipments in 2019. However, since last year, overseas shipment volumes have gradually declined, leading to a reduction in the proportion of overseas sales. The company still views the overseas market as a key area for growth, but it expects domestic and international market demands to balance at around 50% each.
According to a previous earnings forecast from GCL-Poly, the company expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of approximately 55 million to 80 million yuan in 2024, with a net profit of about 10 million to 50 million yuan after excluding non-recurring items.
In discussing the reasons for last year’s profit, GCL-Poly stated that its module business successfully focused on the domestic market, adjusting its order strategy and winning a leading position in large bidding projects by central state-owned enterprises. The operational rates for battery and module production were among the highest in the industry, resulting in significant year-on-year growth in module shipments and improved market share.
