The global competition for photovoltaic recycling is accelerating. China's emerging enterprises have broken through the 100 billion market with technological breakthroughs

Beijing, February 26, 2025 - As the global cumulative photovoltaic installed capacity exceeds 2.5 trillion watts, the retirement of photovoltaic modules is approaching. The International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that global photovoltaic waste will reach 78 million tons in 2030. As the world's largest photovoltaic market, China is expected to have more than 1.4 million tons of waste in 2030. Faced with this challenge, Henan Shanshui Heavy Industry Technology Co., Ltd. has provided the industry with efficient recycling solutions with its independently developed photovoltaic panel glass removal equipment, promoting China's technological breakthrough in the field of photovoltaic circular economy.

Policy-driven and technical bottlenecks coexist
China has built a photovoltaic circular economy system through top-level design. In 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission's "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Recycling of Retired Wind Power and Photovoltaic Equipment" clearly requires the establishment of a full life cycle recycling system. In 2024, the crystalline silicon Module Recycling equipment developed by the State Power Investment Yellow River Company was selected into the list of the first major equipment of the National Energy Administration, marking a breakthrough in technological autonomy.  However, the industry still faces multiple challenges: cross-provincial transportation costs account for more than 30%, the separation technology of EVA film and fluorine-containing backplane is not yet fully mature, and some companies have insufficient resource recovery rates due to technical li

Breakthrough mitations.of technological innovation of emerging enterprises

Against this background, the photovoltaic panel glass intelligent removal equipment (utility model patent number: CN221734403U) launched by Henan Shanshui Heavy Industry Technology Co., Ltd. at the end of 2023 has attracted attention. The equipment adopts the collaborative technology of heating module and scraping module. By dynamically controlling the heating temperature and mechanicAl Scraping force, the glass layer of photovoltaic modules can be accurately peeled off and broken into granules, which is easier to transport and reuse than the traditional powder recycling method. After testing, the equipment processing efficiency is 20% higher than that of similar products, the glass recovery rate is 99.2%, and there is no chemical pollution emission throughout the process.

Industry collaboration builds a closed-loop ecosystem
As a technology-based enterprise established only one year ago, Shanshui Heavy Industry has reached cooperation intentions with many domestic component manufacturers and plans to pilot the "equipment + service" model in Henan, Jiangsu and other places.  Niu Dongliang, the company's executive director, said: "We are exploring the construction of regional recycling centers with Power Station operation and maintenance companies, and using the Internet of Things technology to monitor the flow of retired components in real time and reduce logistics costs." The implementation of its patented technology provides a standardized solution to solve the current "small workshop-style" processing dilemma of photovoltaic recycling.

International competition and future prospects
In overseas markets, the EU has forced technology upgrades through mandatory recycling policies, and Germany's TITECH laser cutting equipment and the United States' First Solar chemical dissolution technology have taken the lead. However, Chinese equipment has won a 60% share in the Southeast Asian market with its cost-effectiveness advantage. With the popularization of new components such as perovskites, the pressure to iterate recycling technology has intensified. Industry insiders pointed out that the innovation of local companies such as Shanshui Heavy Industry has not only filled the gaps in domestic subdivisions, but also contributed "Chinese wisdom" to the global photovoltaic circular economy.