Shenzhen Antaike Clean Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenzhen Antaike", English name ATEC) was founded in 2004. After more than 20 years of development, it has become an innovation-driven global clean energy system solution provider. It is a leader in the nuclear power and thermal power metal enclosure system segments, and ranks among the top two in photovoltaic support system solutions. Headquartered in Shenzhen, it has established management centers, operation centers, manufacturing bases and R&D centers in Wuhan, Tianjin, Jiayuguan, Chengdu, Qujing and Jincheng respectively, with an annual production capacity of 40GW for photovoltaic support system delivery.
Shenzhen Antaike has built a globally competitive R&D and innovation system. As the industry's first "national key high-tech enterprise", it has established an "Advanced Technology R&D Center" with Central South University and Hunan University's scientific research team headed by "Chen Zhengqing", an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. It has created a model of technological innovation and application for new energy to increase power generation revenue, resist wind, resist corrosion, and adapt to various natural environments and application scenarios. It has carried out R&D cooperation with domestic wind engineering, prestressed, and agricultural research institutions to develop economical large-span flexible bracket products suitable for multiple scenarios. With its outstanding global innovation execution capabilities, it has become one of the first Chinese companies to establish cooperation with internationally authoritative wind tunnel laboratories such as RWDI and CPP.
Shenzhen Antaike has participated in the formulation of more than 20 national and industry standards. It is one of the setters of product standards and leaders of industry norms, and has obtained more than 120 national patents. As of the end of December 2023, Shenzhen Antaike's cumulative installation volume exceeded 100GW, and it has successfully installed more than 1,000 customized system integration projects in more than 20 countries and regions on five continents around the world, providing cutting-edge services to more than 1 billion people around the world.
During the 2024SNEC exhibition, 365 Photovoltaic had the honor to interview Ms. Huang Jin, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Antaike Clean Energy Co., Ltd. , to discuss the market situation and development prospects of tracking brackets and flexible brackets, as well as Shenzhen Antaike's future layout plan.
Shenzhen Antaike's "Fist" product - Tracking bracket
365 Photovoltaic: What product series does Shenzhen Antaike have for solutions? Which products are popular among customers at this SNEC exhibition?
Mr. Huang: We have a wide range of products, including Chenggu series, cable net flexible, automatic tracking, manually adjustable series, BIPV, etc. The most popular series of products at this exhibition include Qingtianqing cable net flexible bracket, "Tianji" automatic tracking bracket, and BIPV .
365 Photovoltaic: Tracking brackets currently occupy a large share of the photovoltaic bracket market. What technical accumulation, breakthroughs and innovations in key technologies does Shenzhen Antaike have in this field?
Mr. Huang: As one of the first bracket manufacturers in China to enter the new energy field, Shenzhen Antaike has always insisted on taking technology as the main development direction. Different from production-oriented enterprises, it takes a differentiated route to provide customers with system integration services.
Since 2012, most of the domestic tracking brackets have been mainly developed independently, and there are various technical barriers that cannot be overcome during operation. Shenzhen Antaike has conducted various investigations on tracking technology for overseas markets since 2014. Until 2016, it cooperated with France's ArcelorMittal Exosun (a well-known French tracker manufacturer) to introduce its advanced and mature tracking technology, and promoted and applied it at home and abroad. The mature technology has been well received by domestic and foreign customers and has zero failures in operation. At the same time, Shenzhen Antaike also cooperated with Germany's SBP company (an internationally renowned structural consulting company in the new energy industry) to jointly develop a new Chengzhi series tracking bracket (single and double vertical tracking brackets), the main feature of which is that the main beam adopts a "rectangular octagon", which solves the problem that the main beam of most traditional tracking brackets in China is not stressed. At the same time, it also has the characteristics of more optimized performance structure.
We have gone through a research and development process from multiple tracking modes - multi-row linkage - 1p single-point drive - 2p multi-point mechanical linkage drive - 2p multi-point electrical linkage drive - 1p multi-point drive. We have analyzed the load characteristics of single and double vertical rows and taken improvement measures: the wind-induced main beam torque of the double vertical row is 4 times that of the single vertical row, which strengthens the strength and rigidity of the purlin, and at the same time strengthens the torsional performance of the single vertical row main beam, so as to achieve similar economy.
In terms of design, Shenzhen Antaike cooperated with the best international wind tunnel laboratories in the industry, RWDI and CPP, as well as the Wind Engineering Research Center of Central South University in China, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the static load, dynamic load and aeroelastic stability of the tracking photovoltaic bracket. The wind tunnel experiment was divided into zones: periphery, inner periphery and side rows. A large number of wind tunnel experiments on the tracking bracket on a slope were also conducted to ensure that the bracket obtains more accurate data in terms of design to meet the design safety requirements.
365PV: How do Shenzhen Antaike's tracking brackets perform in actual project applications? How do these advantages translate into actual economic or social benefits?
Mr. Huang: We have very rich case experience, such as the 500MW project in Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai, in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the 300MW project in Argentina, and the 345MW project in Australia.
The Cauchari photovoltaic power station project in Argentina is located in a high-altitude, high-temperature-difference, high-wind-sand zone with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters. The on-site environment is harsh and has high requirements for product performance and service. The project is also the world's largest single-unit tracking bracket photovoltaic power station, with coordinated operations in 8 languages across borders, and is a benchmark project for the Argentina G20 Summit.
The advantages are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Improve power generation. Tracking brackets can automatically adjust their angles to maximize the amount of sunlight received, thereby increasing the power generation of photovoltaic power stations. Tracking brackets can generally increase the power generation of photovoltaic power stations by 15%-20%, and in some low-latitude areas with abundant light resources, they can even increase power generation by more than 20%.
Reduce electricity costs. Although the initial investment and operation and maintenance costs of the tracking bracket are relatively high, it can achieve lower LCOE due to its significant power generation gain.
Improve the life of the photovoltaic system and the power generation efficiency. The tracking bracket can adjust the angle according to the movement of sunlight, reduce the dust accumulation on the photovoltaic panels, and keep the photovoltaic panels clean, thereby extending the life of the photovoltaic system and improving the power generation efficiency.
Adapt to different terrains and lighting conditions. Tracking brackets can adapt to different project location latitudes and terrains. Especially in ground-based power stations, tracking brackets can better utilize sunlight and improve power generation efficiency.
Market demand growth and economies of scale. It is expected that in the next few years, as the global photovoltaic installed capacity continues to increase, the market size of the photovoltaic bracket industry will continue to expand. At the same time, with the increase in production and continuous technological advancement, the cost of tracking brackets is also expected to be further reduced.
In general, although the initial investment of the tracking bracket is high, it has significant economic benefits in the long run due to its significantly increased power generation and reduced LCOE.
365 Photovoltaic: Will Shenzhen Antaike continue to invest in research and development to optimize tracking bracket technology in the future? What are the specific research and development directions or plans?
Mr. Huang: Of course, as an industry pioneer, Shenzhen Antaike adopts the R&D design + production manufacturing model, leading the market trend and catering to international trends. We will continue to invest in R&D in the future, mainly in three directions.
First, improve tracking accuracy and reliability. Ensure that the bracket can follow the sun's motion trajectory more accurately, reduce errors, and ensure stable and reliable operation under various environmental conditions. For example, use more advanced sensors and control systems to optimize tracking performance.
Second, optimize the structural design. Make the support structure lighter, stronger, and easier to install and maintain. For example, develop new materials or innovative structural forms to reduce weight while ensuring strength.
Third, intelligent control. It has intelligent functions such as self-diagnosis and adaptive adjustment. For example, it can automatically adjust the angle according to weather conditions or better integrate with energy management systems.
Safety, sensitivity, stability, precision, intelligence, low failure rate, and maintenance-free for 25 years are always the product concepts that Shenzhen Antaike adheres to.
365PV: What do you think about the future development trend of tracking brackets? What are the potential challenges and opportunities?
Mr. Huang: I think there are several development trends at present:
First, intelligence. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, tracking brackets are expected to become intelligent and automatically adjust their position and direction to adapt to different lighting conditions and working environments.
Secondly, integration. In the future, tracking brackets may be integrated with other technologies, such as energy storage systems and photovoltaic power generation systems, to form a multifunctional integrated platform.
Then, lightweighting. In order to reduce the operating costs of tracking brackets and improve their reliability, researchers are working hard to achieve lightweighting, such as using new composite materials.
Finally, safety.
The challenges mainly include the following issues:
First, the cost issue. Although the cost of tracking brackets is constantly decreasing, they still occupy a part of the photovoltaic power generation system, so how to further reduce the cost is a challenge.
Second, technical difficulties. How to achieve the intelligence, integration and lightweight of the tracking bracket while ensuring its performance and safety is also a technical problem that needs to be overcome.
Third, market acceptance. The market acceptance of tracking stents is affected by many factors, such as policies and regulations, user perception, etc., so how to improve market acceptance is also a challenge.
At the same time, tracking brackets also face the following opportunities:
Policy support. In order to promote the development of renewable energy, the governments of many countries have given certain policy support to photovoltaic power generation equipment such as tracking brackets.
Market demand. As people's demand for renewable energy continues to increase, the photovoltaic power generation market is also expanding, providing a broad market space for photovoltaic power generation equipment such as tracking brackets.
Technological innovation. The related technologies of tracking stents are constantly innovating and developing, providing more possibilities for their future development and application.
Shenzhen Antaike's "new" leader - flexible bracket
365 Photovoltaic: What are the current technical schools of flexible brackets? How big is the difference in market prices? Why is there such a big difference?
Mr. Huang: There are two-cable structural systems, three-cable quadrangular pyramid systems, and three-cable net truss systems.
The price of flexible brackets varies greatly, ranging from more than 0.3 yuan, 0.4 yuan, 0.5 yuan, 0.8 yuan, 1 yuan, and 2 yuan. Just like custom-built houses, site selection, load, span, height from the ground, whether to avoid roads, high-voltage lines, light transmittance and other requirements will affect the cost. Similarly, the prices of different technical schools are also very different.
365 Photovoltaic: Projects using flexible brackets have experienced many problems such as component dancing, flexible structure collapse, and foundation pulling out. As a technology-leading company, how does Shenzhen Antaike view these phenomena?
Mr. Huang: These problems are mainly caused by the mixed use of first-generation, second-generation and third-generation products, the coexistence of various structural solutions, the bold application of others' technologies without wind tunnel research, and the plagiarism and infringement of patents without understanding them. This is actually an inevitable process of the development and elimination of China's flexible bracket technology. Once these brackets fail, their non-remodeling characteristics will make the cost of remedial measures very high, resulting in extremely heavy losses.
365 Photovoltaic: Based on specific project cases, in what aspects does Shenzhen Antaike's flexible brackets show significant advantages?
Mr. Huang: There are many application cases of flexible brackets. The largest single project is the Lianyungang project, which is approximately 860MW of fully flexible photovoltaic brackets. There is also a Three Gorges Qingkou project, which is approximately 450MW of flexible photovoltaic brackets. In Guangdong, there is a Foshan Sanshui project with a flexible photovoltaic bracket volume of approximately 300MW. The fact that we can undertake such large-scale projects is also a recognition of our products and our technology by our partners.
First, improve land utilization. Some previous project cases show that fixed brackets can increase land utilization by 30%, and land rent can save 0.1 yuan/watt in 25 years.
Secondly, it saves the number of pile foundations . For a large span of 30 meters, the number of foundations is 50%-70% of the fixed support, which reduces land damage, saves compensation costs for young crops, and optimizes the project cost through overall control of foundation and flexibility.
Then, increase the power generation . High clearance, power generation on top and farming on the bottom, air convection above the lake water reduces the temperature of the components, and the high temperature and light intensity in summer, the best power generation period, reduces the temperature of the components, which can bring 1.5%-3% increase in power generation for the photovoltaic power station. The better the flatness of the components, the higher the power generation.
Finally, green ecological development. The land is used in a complex way, and the planting and breeding below are not affected. It is friendly to the natural environment and develops harmoniously with the ecology, which is in line with the real green photovoltaic power generation.
Shenzhen Antaike's future vision
365 Photovoltaic: What is Shenzhen Antaike's self-positioning as a company? How can it maintain rapid development when the industry is in a state of severe internal competition?
Mr. Huang: Shenzhen Antaike's business objectives have always been: first, honest work; second, scientific and technological support; third, ecological development . The company adheres to its mission to provide the world's clean energy with leading technology, excellent performance products, services and full-cycle solutions.
We will adhere to our original aspirations of development: to maintain the bottom line of ensuring safe and stable operation of power stations for 25 years, continue to innovate and continuously provide valuable new products, challenge and solve difficult problems, and have good intellectual property rights, coordinate domestic and international development, be able to adapt to international requirements, make reasonable plans globally, learn and move forward steadily, and insist on building a 100-year-old enterprise that is a global outstanding Chinese brand bracket equipment supplier.
