Sustainable Mining and Metallurgy

Photovoltaic power generation is gradually occupying an important seat in the world energy landscape due to its advantages of cleanliness, safety and abundant resources, and will become one of the ‘main forces’ of world energy supply in the future. With the rapid development of the upstream and downstream of the photovoltaic industry chain, the price of polycrystalline silicon as the basic raw material continues to rise, resulting in a rising investment heat in the polycrystalline silicon industry. This paper introduced the current development status and future trend of photovoltaic polysilicon industry, analyzed the main technical route adopted by polysilicon production at home and abroad, trichlorosilane method and silane method, and analyzed the energy consumption and cost composition of trichlorosilane method. Based on the perspective of cost and regional advantages, this paper put forward reasonable judgments and suggestions for the development pattern of photovoltaic polysilicon industry. The production cost of polycrystalline silicon is mainly affected by power consumption and the price of metal silicon powder. In the future, the polycrystalline silicon industry will be transferred to the western region with energy endowment and rich silicon mineral resources.