Solar from the factory line
The world’s second largest economy, China, is now at the centre of the global energy transformation. Over 60% of the world’s solar cells are produced in China and it’s often referred to as the “biggest solar manufacturer”. Our data scientist, Jon, has been working from the hotbed of solar production for the past months and was able to visit some factories to see how it works.
As I step out of the car, I am hit by a wall of heat. It’s 37 degrees and the humidity is above 60%. I am in Guangzhou, China visiting factories that produce solar systems for our partners. The area around me is littered with palm trees, and white multi-story buildings that have that gritty south-Chinese look. That kind of white where all the colour either looks like it’s falling off or bumped into a dirt cloud a few years ago and was never really washed again. Every building on every floor has a different factory. I enter one of them and take an old industrial elevator with one working light and two that are burned out, the walls are made of plywood and from my limited Chinese I can see the in case of emergency and telephone number written with a pencil on the wall.
All the gloomy feelings are washed away as I enter the factory floor. Neatly stacked packaged boxes in a big open warehouse setting. Boxes upon boxes, of both components and assembled products, with spacious walking paths between each block. Sun is shining in through the dimmed glass walls creating an airy feel. We head over to a corner where a production line is set up.
Eight workers are sitting on adjustable footstools along a long bench, each busy taking turns in the assembly process. Solar home systems are moving from one side of the line down the next. One set of hand adds the casing, the next puts in the circuit board, then a battery is inserted and connected. Afterwards it goes off to the testing benches. The manufacturing is strikingly simple. As a product, the circuit board is already loaded with firmware for pay as you go, diagnostics and usb connectors. Assembly looks easy, the hard part is making sure what you put together actually works.
Many times bigger than the production line is the area reserved for product testing. There is a big black vault with cables sticking out everywhere, hundreds of systems are connected to do battery testing. Hanging off a shelf are multiple lights shining and electric razors buzzing, selected from each batch to do longevity testing. In one area a spiderweb of components are spread out on the floor, testing the usb, the receivers and the sim cards. A big black round ball the size of a person, allows a single light to be inserted for measuring luminosity of the bulbs. Usually above 100 lumens, which translates into one solar light that can illuminate as much as 10 candles. A big white machine with transparent boxes is humming along. The solar panels and solar home systems are put into the boxes which can be adjusted to a certain temperature and humidity, to allow to simulate for rapid aging and performance testing in extreme conditions. Ironically Guangzhou is already warmer and higher humidity than most areas where the systems are deployed.
The reason for all this quality assurance is varied, one part is to make sure one gets the highest quality products from one supplier. There had been incidents where Chinese suppliers found out that the systems are going to Africa and tried to sell an inferior quality product. Not good for our partners which are handling all the warranty and repairs. But also if the system is sent to the heartland of Tanzania, then the fault is discovered. Then it is a lot more expensive to send a motorbike on dirt roads for two days for replacement, compared to switching it on the line in Guangzhou.
Standing there taking in the whole elaborate production and testing I asked: “What is the biggest challenge?”. I thought it might be ensure longevity of the batteries, clearing shipping export and import regulations, or to find reliable factories. But the answer quick and clear: Finance. The factory is only pushing a few thousand system per week. However the capacity behind is lined up to actually produce close to 50,000 systems, if there was enough money. Supply side is ready, are you?
/ Jon
Data Scientist at TRINE
