China Tightens Energy Standards for Polysilicon, Wafers
China’s new mandatory national energy consumption standards for polysilicon and solar wafers on Monday, released at a photovoltaic industry standards briefing in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, has introduced tighter requirements than those outlined in a previous draft for public consultation.
The event was jointly attended by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other government authorities, as well as standardization bodies, PV manufacturers and research institutes. Industry participants told OPIS the revisions reflect regulators’ efforts to strike a careful balance between accelerating the phase-out of inefficient production capacity, promoting technological upgrading and minimizing disruption to the industry’s recovery.
Earlier this month, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said that the authorities had established three mandatory national standards covering energy consumption and energy efficiency across key segments of the PV manufacturing value chain, including polysilicon, wafers, modules and inverters. The corresponding draft standards had been released for public consultation beginning in 2025 before being finalized this month.
The standards introduce three-tiered energy consumption and energy efficiency requirements for major PV products and are widely regarded by market participants as an important policy tool to accelerate the retirement of inefficient, energy-intensive production capacity through stricter technical benchmarks. China’s National Public Service Platform for Standards Information said that the standards will become mandatory on Jan. 1, 2027.
New Requirements
The three mandatory national standards cover:
* Energy consumption per unit products of polysilicon and germanium;
* Energy consumption per unit products of monocrystalline silicon; and
*Minimum allowable values of energy efficiency and energy efficiency grades for crystalline silicon PV modules and inverters.
Among the three standards, the energy efficiency standard for modules and inverters remains unchanged from the previous consultation draft. However, the maximum allowable energy consumption thresholds for polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon products have been tightened modestly.
For Siemens-process polysilicon, the maximum allowable total energy consumption thresholds for Grade 1 and Grade 2 remain unchanged at 5.0 kilograms of standard coal equivalent per kilogram and 5.5 kgce/kg, respectively. The Grade 3 threshold, however, has been further tightened to 6.3 kgce/kg from 6.4 kgce/kg in the draft version.
For fluidized bed reactor or FBR granular polysilicon, the Grade 1 and Grade 2 thresholds also remain unchanged at 3.6 kgce/kg and 4.0 kgce/kg, respectively. The Grade 3 threshold has been reduced more noticeably to 4.6 kgce/kg from the previous 5.0 kgce/kg.
For monocrystalline silicon ingots, using the 182 mm × 210 mm specification as the benchmark, the official standard sets maximum total energy consumption limits of 1.90 kgce/kg for Grade 1, 2.16 kgce/kg for Grade 2 and 2.58 kgce/kg for Grade 3. These compare with 2.27 kgce/kg, 2.37 kgce/kg and 2.76 kgce/kg, respectively, in the consultation draft.
For monocrystalline silicon wafers of the same specification, the official standard establishes maximum total energy consumption limits of 5,900 kgce per million pieces for Grade 1, 7,005 kgce per million pieces for Grade 2 and 9,525 kgce per million pieces for Grade 3. These thresholds have been tightened from the previous draft’s 6,760 kgce, 7,370 kgce and 9,590 kgce per million pieces, respectively.
The standards specify that existing production capacity must comply with at least the Grade 3 requirements, while newly built, expanded or upgraded facilities must meet the stricter Grade 2 standards.
Limited Immediate Impact Expected
The publication of the final standards has prompted discussion over whether the tighter Grade 3 threshold for polysilicon could result in a more meaningful round of capacity rationalization.
A major polysilicon producer told OPIS that the reduction of the Siemens-process Grade 3 threshold from 6.4 kgce/kg to 6.3 kgce/kg represents a significant difference in practice, particularly because the Grade 3 benchmark applies to existing production facilities.
“Without technical upgrades, the difference between these two figures could affect at least 10% of existing production capacity,” the source said.
Another industry participant agreed, saying the adjustment demonstrates regulators’ determination to maximize the elimination of inefficient capacity while carefully managing the broader impact on the industry.
However, the source emphasized that the release of the mandatory standards is only one part of the process. Equally important will be the implementation guidelines and enforcement mechanisms, which will determine how compliance is assessed in practice.
“The standards become mandatory on Jan. 1, 2027, but if they are ultimately used as a meaningful tool for capacity rationalization, the actual impact is unlikely to materialize until at least 2028,” the source added.
Industry Averages Near New Thresholds; Leading Producers Already Surpass the Standards
According to the annual development roadmap released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association or CPIA in February, the industry’s average total energy consumption for Siemens-process polysilicon was 6.8 kgce/kg in 2025 and is projected to decline to 6.5 kgce/kg in 2026. That forecast is already approaching the newly established Grade 3 requirement of 6.3 kgce/kg.
One market participant noted that the industry average figures are significantly skewed by the outdated capacity with energy intensity well above the industry norm, most of which were commissioned before 2018. Due to their relatively high production costs and poor competitiveness, the majority of these facilities have already been idled.
Given China’s currently low polysilicon operating rates, eliminating these nominal but largely inactive capacities is unlikely to materially alter the industry’s supply-demand balance or accelerate market rebalancing, the source said.
The low utilization rate was highlighted at the 2026 PV Supply Chain Development Seminar organized by the CPIA in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on July 22. Speaking at the event, Yan Dazhou, director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Polysilicon Preparation Technology, said China’s polysilicon nameplate capacity is expected to reach 3.5 million metric tons in 2026. However, first-half production in 2026 totaled only around 540,000 mt, implying a capacity utilization rate of just 33.8%. Industry inventories total around 500,000 mt, while market prices have fallen below the cash production costs of most manufacturers.
Meanwhile, public disclosures from several major polysilicon manufacturers suggest that the industry’s leading producers have already achieved energy consumption levels well below the new mandatory thresholds, indicating that the standards are unlikely to pose significant challenges for technologically advanced facilities.
In its 2024 annual report, Tongwei said the total electricity consumption of its polysilicon production had fallen to 46 kWh/kg that year. Based on the conversion factor specified in China’s national standard GB/T 2,589 (1 kWh = 0.1229 kgce), this equates to total energy consumption of approximately 5.65 kgce/kg, comfortably below the new Grade 3 threshold of 6.3 kgce/kg for Siemens-process polysilicon.
Similarly, GCL Technology announced in December 2024 that the total electricity consumption of its FBR granular polysilicon production had fallen to 13.8 kWh/kg. Using the same conversion methodology, this equates to approximately 1.70 kgce/kg, significantly outperforming even the new Grade 1 requirement of 3.6 kgce/kg.
Asia Silicon also said in a social media post on Monday that its total polysilicon energy consumption has been reduced to below 5.9 kgce/kg, comfortably meeting the upcoming Grade 3 requirement.