ESTH Report

Hot Water For China -- A PRC Solar Water Heater Company

A report from U.S. Embassy Beijing January 1998

Summary. Tsinghua Solar Co., Qinghua University high tech spin-off company founded in 1978, developed a line of solar power collector tube assemblies and has marketed them in both rural China and abroad. Fourteen tubes in a collector assembly connected by piping to an insulated tank can heat enough hot water for a family of four. Tsinghua Solar patented its all-glass evacuated tube solar collectors in 1987. Tsinghua Solar Co. manufactured 2.5 million tubes in 1997 and exported 100,000 to Japan. On the Chinese domestic market, three Tsinghua Solar Co. plant must compete with 37 pirate plants that produce unlicensed and often inferior versions of the Tsinghua Solar Co. patented solar collector tubes. Lower life cycle costs, safety, and pollution concerns to switch from gas heaters to solar collectors. New home buyers in Kunming and Suzhou now often ask for solar heat collectors. Several PRC solar power contacts are listed at the end of this report.

Low Efficiency, Cold Weather Limits Slowed PRC Solar Pace

Qinghua University professors and Tsinghua Solar Co. Research and Development Director Yin Zhiqiang and Production Director Zhang Jian told U.S. Embassy Beijing Environment, Science and Technology Section in mid-November 1997 that corrosion, cold weather, and relatively poor sunlight transmission characteristics of the glass used in Chinese solar water heaters slowed the development of this technology in China. The Chinese armored glass passed 84 percent of the light shining on the solar collectors while foreign armored glass passed about 92 percent. During the mid 1980s, the Beijing Solar Energy Research Institute (BSERI) imported bought a copper/aluminum solar absorber production line from Canada Sunstrips, but this technology was soon outmoded by full copper absorbers which eliminate aluminum corrosion and are easier to weld than aluminum.

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector Developed at Qinghua University

The all-glass evacuated (vacuum) tube solar collectors which are the basic unit for the solar water heater assembly were developed by Qinghua University professors. All-glass evacuated collector tubes are composed of two concentric borosilicate glass tubes. A magnetron sputtering process coats the outer surface of the inner tube and the jacket between the cover and inner glass tubes is evacuated and sealed. Tsinghua Solar holds PRC patents for its aluminum-nitrogen coating on an aluminum base layer as well as for a manifold which makes it possible to set up the collector at any angle. The concentric borosilicate glass from Beijing Glass Co. transmits up to 93 percent of the sunlight falling on the glass tube. According to Tsinghua Solar, the best quality model, the Huangming Brand hot water heater made by Tsinghua University Solar Energy Shandong Huangming Hot Water Heater Factory in Dezhou (Tel. 0534-232-1808).

Evacuated Glass Solar Heaters Give Ten Months of Hot Water

Older flat-plate conventional solar power collectors could only be used about six months of the year north of Yellow River because of the freezing and bursting of pipes in solar power collector assemblies. The Tsinghua Solar Co. all-glass evacuated tubular collectors can used in colder weather than the older flat-plate type. In the Beijing area the Tsinghua Solar Co. solar collector assemblies can be used ten months out of the year. Piping from a fourteen tube solar power collector array leads to an insulated water tank. An export model eliminates the pipe freezing problem by using antifreeze in the tubes can be used all year round. Heat from the tubes is transferred to tap water that goes into the tank. This model, which costs USD4000, has been exported to South Korea and Japan.

100-Liter Solar Water Heater System Serves Family of Four

Solar power collectors with apertures from two square meters to thousands of square meters can be constructed from modules. Tsinghua Solar tubular solar collectors have a guaranteed lifetime of five years and a service life of fifteen years. Households use either the 12 tube 0.85 sq meter assembly 75-liter tank 1200 renminbi (USD 145) model or the 14 tube 1.3 square meter assembly 100-liter tank 2700 renminbi (USD 325) plus installation fee. Japanese and Swiss customers want systems with a capacity of 300-400 liters. The all-glass evacuated tubes made in the Tsinghua Solar Co. plant cost only half as much as similar products from developed countries, said the Tsinghua Solar managers. Good quality glass characteristics, film coating technology and the best evacuation technology are essential to assure a product service life of fifteen years.

City Dwellers Want Not Only Hot Water But Clean Air Too

Solar energy has a big potential market in rural areas and in towns short of conventional energy. The solar water heater market is growing rapidly in places like Wuxian, Huaiying in Suzhou and Yangzhou where real estate agents install solar collectors atop the new homes they build. In Kunming, Yunnan, home buyers ask about three things: telephone lines, public TV antennas and solar water heaters. Even in big cities, some residents choose solar water heaters because they are safer and, given their long service lifetime (15 years vs. 5 years for a 1200 renminbi solar water heater with 0.85 sq. meter solar collector assembly with 75-liter insulated storage tank at 15 - 20 renminbi per month for gas) are cheaper over the long term. People need invest only once to enjoy hot water for fifteen years. Tsinghua Solar Co. production of 2.5 million tube sets in 1997, increasing to 5 million tube sets during 1998, could replace a considerable energy consumption from other sources in the coming years.

Environmental Benefits of Solar Collector Water Heaters

Tsinghua Solar Co. calculates that five million tubes (current production is 3 million tubes annually) over their fifteen-year service life will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12.8 tons, carbon monoxide emissions by 6800 tons, 56,000 tons of dust, 17,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 45,000 tons of nitric oxides when compared with emissions produced by burning coal to get the same amount of energy. Today, coal supplies three-quarters of China's energy needs.

Tsinghua Solar and Beijing Glass: Partnership Lowers Costs

Use of high grade boron/silicon glass from Beijing Glass results in high transmission of sunlight falling on the glass. The Beijing Tsinghua Solar Co. plant, co-located at Beijing Glass, brings the processing line and the raw materials together. Beijing Glass, like Tsinghua Solar Co., is also a Tsinghua University spin-off company and has several professor-managers in the company. This makes it easy to build a good working relationship between Beijing Glass and Tsinghua Solar Co.

Solar Collector Tube Production Grows to Three Million

Pilot production, begun in 1985, reached an annual volume of 30,000 tubes in 1988. Tsinghua Solar Co. received a bank loan of 5 million renminbi (about USD600,000) and loans of one million renminbi (about USD120,000) each from the Tsinghua University and the Beijing Glass Co. The factory completed the first stage of construction in September 1994 and set up the first production line with an annual capacity of one million glass tubes on the grounds of Qinghua University. But they only produced 240,000 tube/sets in 1994 and 650,000 in 1995. They borrowed another 30 million renminbi from China Industrial and Commercial Bank for the second stage of construction and, in September 1996, Tsinghua Solar completed the construction for the 2nd tube processing line outside of Tsinghua University at Beijing Glass with an annual capacity of 4 million tubes.

The new 6000 square meter Tsinghua Solar Co. plant uses all Chinese-made equipment. In 1996, annual production reached 2 million tubes. Also in 1996, third stage construction began in Changping County near Beijing, of an assembly plant for all-glass evacuated tubular collectors. During 1998, batch production at the Changping Factory begins and a network of sales agents will be set up all over China. Production capacity will reach 3 million tubes in three years. During 1997, Tsinghua Solar sold about 2.5 million tubes. In 1995, the company exported 100,000 tubes to Japan as well as to other countries in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.

Chinese Domestic Solar Water Heater Market Outlook

Tsinghua Solar�s all-glass evacuated solar collector tubes now have a 70 percent share of the Chinese market. Chinese made tubes of this type also have a 90 percent of the international market. The market for solar water heaters is growing apace with China�s rapidly rising living standards. The 100 Chinese counties still without electric power are another market -- over 100 million Chinese do not have electric power. The greatest demand for Tsinghua Solar�s solar water heaters has come from the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei, Henan and Yunnan. Chinese customers prefer buying a fancy completely different product than a just higher-quality version of the same product, said Tsinghua Solar. This consumer preference works to the advantage of solar water heater marketers. Now the Chinese solar water heater market is expanding in two directions: into the cities and out into the countryside. Two hundred and forty families in the eco-agriculture model village of Liuminying in Daxing County, Hebei Province installed the latest generation of solar collectors during the Summer of 1997. The village had used earlier generations of solar heat collectors for 40 years. Tsinghua Solar Co. solar tube heating assemblies will soon become more widely available in remote areas of China such as Inner Mongolia and in northwest China including Xinjiang.
Japan, SE Asia Could Become Solar Heater Big Export Market

Tsinghua Solar Co. sees big potential markets in Japan and Southeast Asia. Swimming pool heating might be a good market niche for solar heaters in the U.S. Better management and technology drives down product costs. Tsinghua Solar Co. has been too busy lately to do much marketing.

Sharing the Market With Solar Power Pirates

Now Tsinghua Solar Co. services the Beijing area with its own installation team. Of the forty plants in China which manufacture all-glass evacuated tube solar water heaters, only three of them are licensed by Tsinghua Solar. According to Tsinghua Solar, the other 37 plants are all pirates. Some of these solar water heaters are of bad quality. There are also about 300 factories assembling this type of all-glass solar collectors heaters using either licensed or unlicensed pirate tubes. Intellectual property protection inadequate, said the managers of Tsinghua Solar Co.
PRC State Planning Commission on Rural Solar Potential

An official Chinese view from the PRC State Planning Commission on PRC rural energy supply and demand, (ref) including the role of solar power, is examined in a recent U.S. Embassy report is available on the U.S. Embassy Beijing web page at http://www.redfish.com/USEmbassy-China/sandt/sandt.htm

Below is the section of the SPC report that discusses the outlookl for solar power use in the Chinese countryside to the year 2000.

"China has rich solar power resources. China has an average irradiation of 5.9 million kilojoules per square meter. Two-thirds of Chinese territory has over 2000 hours of sunlight annually, with the west having more sunlight than the east. Chinese regions with the most sunlight are the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, Inner Mongolia, southern Xinjiang, northeastern China, and some parts of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. Chinaís land surface receives solar energy equivalent to 17 million tons of coal-equivalent. In recent years solar energy has mostly been used for heating as in passively heated solar houses, solar heated agricultural greenhouses, and solar water heaters. Passive solar heating of houses is found most often in areas with rich solar energy resources such as Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. In areas where heating is required, solar heating is an appropriate technology for heating classrooms. In the year 2000, China will have 10 million cubic meters of solar heated housing. Construction of solar heated hot houses is developing rapidly and is expected to reach 350,000 hectares by the year 2000. Solar power water heaters are also becoming more popular. At present three main types of solar water heaters are used in China are the flat-plate type, the vacuum-tube type and the stagnation type solar water heaters. In the year 2000 Chinese solar water heater total capacity will reach 8.5 million cubic meters."

Tsinghua Solar Co. Contacts:

Prof. Yin Zhiqiang, of the Qinghua University Dept of Electronic Engineering (thsolar@public.bta.net.cn) and R&D Dept Director of Tsinghua Solar (Tel. 86-10-6278-1760 or 86-10-6278-8941, Fax 86-10-6278-0198, E-Mail: thsolar@public.bta.net.cn)

Prof. Zhang Jian, Vice General Manager and Production Manager of Tsinghua Solar Company,(Tel. 86-10-62780196, Fax 86-10-6278-0198)

The six professional committees of the China Solar Energy Society:

Prof. Meng Xiangan, Secretary General of CSES, Tel. 6201-7009, Fax 6201-2880 Address: No. 3 Huayuan Lu, Haidian District, Beijing 100083. CSES is located within BSERI. In China, there is not a specific organization coordinating on new energy and renewable energy development.
Solar Energy Society Committees Contact List

When calling from outside China, preface Beijing numbers with 86-10

Solar Energy Thermal Utilization Committee

Prof. Yin Zhiqiang, Dept of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Tel. 6278-1760, Fax 6278-0195

Photovoltaic Conversion Committee

Prof. Lin Anzhong, Room 401, Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute, Tel. 6201-4488, Ext. 4129

Address: No. 2 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100088

Wind Power Committee

Prof. Long Zeqiang, China Wind Power Technology Development Center, Tel. 6202-0108, Address: No. 3 Huayuan Lu, Haidian District, Beijing 100083.

Photochemical Committee

Prof. Xiao Xurui, Inst of Sensitivity Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Tel. 6201-7601, Ext. 512, Address: Beishatan, Deshengmenwai, Beijing 100101

Hydrogen Energy Committee

Prof. Zhao Yongfeng, Petroleum University, Postgraduate School, Tel. 6232-0066, Ext. 3780, Add. Beijing 100083

Biomass Energy Committee

Ms. Liu Ying, Institute of Marsh Gas Research, Tel. 028-5225-1571, Add. No. 13, No. 4 Duan, Renmin Nanlu, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, PRC.

Beijing Solar Energy Research Institute (BSERI)

Mr. Jiang Xinian, Director, Tel. 6201-7655 Fax 6201-2880, Address: Huayuanlu No. 3, E-mail: sunpubj@public.east.cn.net