HJT May Become The Best Solution For The Us Photovoltaic Market!
Recently, a piece of news about photovoltaic technology has attracted widespread attention in the industry. On February 21, 2025, Canadian Solar's experiments showed that HJT (heterojunction) technology has shown significant advantages over the currently widely used TOPCon in multiple key indicators, making HJT very likely to become the best choice for the US photovoltaic market.
In the competition of power generation, HJT stands out
Canadian Solar compared the outdoor performance of the most advanced TOPCon and HJT components. Under the same conditions of component size, format and STC power rating, HJT generated 2% more power than TOPCon in the six months from April to September. This is mainly due to HJT's better temperature coefficient. In high temperature environments, its efficiency loss is lower and its performance is better. At the same time, HJT's bifacial rate is as high as 85%-90%, higher than TOPCon's 80%-85%, and the back-side power generation gain is more prominent. This feature is particularly important in application scenarios in some high-temperature and high-irradiation areas in the United States.
From a cost perspective, HJT also has obvious advantages
HJT uses a full-process low-temperature process, which makes it perform well in carbon emissions, energy consumption, manpower requirements and water resource utilization. Compared with TOPCon, HJT can reduce carbon emissions by 20%, which is in line with the global pursuit of environmental protection and sustainable development; fewer processes and low-temperature processes can save 70% of electricity consumption; the process is simplified to only 4 steps, saving 60% of the labor; water consumption can also be reduced by 20%-60%. With the help of the US subsidy policy, it is estimated that HJT can make a profit of 5.6 cents per watt, and the equipment investment recovery period is only 1.2 years, which is very attractive to investors.
Looking at the patent aspect
The United States has a complete patent protection mechanism, which to a certain extent affects the market layout of photovoltaic technology. TOPCon and BC technologies face potential patent litigation risks, while HJT technology was first proposed by Walther Fuhs in 1974. Japan's Sanyo made technical improvements and applied for patents in 1989. These patents expired in 2011-2013. Therefore, in overseas production capacity planning, especially in the United States, HJT will not be subject to patent litigation by the founding companies, which eliminates a major obstacle to its large-scale promotion in the US market.
In fact, many overseas photovoltaic companies have smelled business opportunities and have begun to actively deploy HJT production lines. Canadian Solar itself plans to build a 5GW solar cell production plant in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which will supply the 5GW module plant in Mesquite, Texas in the future. NuVision Solar, a local US company, also announced plans to build a heterojunction solar cell and module production plant with an annual production capacity of 2.5GW in the United States. It is planned to start production in the fourth quarter of 2025, and its modules will be directly used in US utility-scale, large-scale commercial and residential photovoltaic projects.
For Chinese photovoltaic equipment companies, this is both an opportunity and a challenge
On May 22, 2024, the Office of the United States Trade Representative proposed to increase tariffs on Chinese photovoltaic cells and other products, and the tariff rate on photovoltaic products was raised from 25% to 50%. However, for photovoltaic equipment, in order to promote the return of manufacturing, the US government has set aside a window period, allowing tariff exemption before May 31, 2025. This policy has created a golden opportunity for Chinese photovoltaic equipment companies to export. Domestic leading companies are expected to take on US expansion orders and accelerate the process of global layout by relying on the localization breakthroughs achieved in the field of HJT core equipment (such as PECVD, PVD), mature HJT full-line supply capabilities, and world-leading process maturity and cost-effectiveness.
HJT technology has shown great potential in the fiercely competitive US photovoltaic market with its advantages in power generation, cost control, and patent risks. With the participation of more and more companies and the continuous advancement of technology, HJT may really become the mainstream technology in the US photovoltaic market, leading the industry into a new stage of development. And Chinese photovoltaic companies should also seize this historical opportunity to shine more brightly on the stage of the global photovoltaic industry.