An insight into photovoltaic production in China

8th Feb 2023 / Photovoltaik, bluetti

In the meantime, a good 73% of the goods produced worldwide come from China, and this will not change in the medium term, even if some like to rattle the sabres.

iQcom had the opportunity to visit the solar factory in Guadong, which produces foldable and flexible solar modules for the market leader Bluetti Power (with an efficiency of 23.97%) but also for Jackery and Ecoflow (efficiency 15.4-16.8%).

And of course it also manufactures the new foldable solar modules PV 350 and PV420 for iQcom itself.

It was not only the cleanliness of the entire factory that was impressive. There are a total of 5 factories, each of which produces the portable PV solar modules for the world market on 7 floors. The atmosphere among the employees, which is also very important to us, is also very good and balanced.

In the past, we have often read in the media about the exploitative conditions of employees at Apple Foxcon or other manufacturers of electronic components, but when you are there, you see that the employees work in an environment like in Switzerland and can afford something with their salary, apart from making a living.

We were interested to know how it is with every O.E.M business, for example, yes a snowboard factory in Austria produces on average for 23 brands, partly on the same moulds but in different material quality, how it is in China with tech products.

Specifically, our question was:

Why does Bluetti Power manage to produce foldable PV modules with such a high efficiency of up to 24%, while Jackery and Ecoflow remain at 16% efficiency?

The answer was surprising:

Brands like Bluetti or even Bluesun have internal R&D teams and patents, just like you guys at iQcom, other brands don't have that and use technologies that we can offer free of patents, and you basically just put the logo on the boxes and products, as well as the instruction manuals for them.

"But," our partner added: "It is also not always easy for us to fulfill the requirement profiles in ever shorter time, called: "time to market", with a process change and quality assurance. That's why there were teething problems with the Bluetti PV 350 and the new PV 420 modules, which were eventually resolved. But it's always a challenge, even though we've been in business for 20 years."

Those who have read carefully now know that the Bluetti PV 350 and PV 420 modules are also available under the iQcom brand. Because we are allowed to and at the same time we are also working with Bluetti again on new exciting solutions for the renewable energy market.

It remains exciting.