On the morning of July 3, 2026, the China Water Resources and Electric Power Quality Management Association organized a special seminar on photovoltaic recycling and the high-quality development of new energy at the XinZhi Academy. Experts from the State Grid Energy Research Institute and Beijing State Grid Auction Co., Ltd., as well as representatives of photovoltaic module recycling companies including Yunnan Xiangtai, Xunjie Information Technology, and Langfang Jinye, attended the meeting. Wang Guanghui, President of the Association, chaired the meeting and delivered the opening remarks.

China's photovoltaic industry has now reached the world's largest scale, while a wave of large-scale module retirements is approaching. President Wang Guanghui pointed out that if retired modules cannot be effectively recycled and reused, the green credentials of the photovoltaic industry will face the risk of being “vetoed outright.” Photovoltaic module recycling is not merely an environmental or cost issue; it is also a profound quality-related issue concerning the closed-loop quality management of products throughout their entire life cycle, the improvement of industrial quality infrastructure, and the benchmark for the value of high-quality new energy development.

Tan Xue, a technical expert from the State Grid Energy Research Institute, stated in her remarks that since the beginning of this year, the Technical Specification for Pollution Control in the Recycling and Treatment of Waste Photovoltaic Equipment has been implemented, and the six ministries and commissions have issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Comprehensive Utilization of Photovoltaic Modules. The policy framework has become increasingly完善, and photovoltaic recycling has risen to become a core issue in the high-quality development of the industry. The differentiated governance approaches adopted by major photovoltaic markets such as the European Union, Japan, and the United States also provide useful references. Song Yang, Deputy General Manager of Beijing State Grid Auction Co., Ltd., noted during the seminar that the Ecological and Environmental Protection Code, adopted this year, provides a sufficient legal basis for regulating market access for photovoltaic module recycling enterprises, while also pointing the way toward setting industry entry thresholds and implementing hierarchical and category-based management.

Frontline enterprise representatives described the industry's deep-seated difficulties: fewer than 20 professional recycling companies nationwide possess complete environmental protection qualifications. A large number of unqualified “backyard workshops,” which do not need to bear environmental protection costs, are bidding up prices to seize supplies and squeezing the operating space of compliant enterprises, creating a vicious cycle in which “bad money drives out good.” The mismatch between tax incentives and mainstream technologies, the lack of oversight over the destinations of retired modules, and the inability of recycled products to benefit from policy incentives due to the absence of applicable standards have compounded one another. As a result, compliant enterprises are facing multiple pressures, including shortages of raw material supplies, disorderly market competition, and severely shrinking profit margins. Enterprise representatives called on the Association to leverage its quality expertise platform and take active steps to promote the establishment of an industry access system, improve the standards system, and facilitate the implementation of tax incentive policies. They urged the development of specific and practical policy recommendations to address the industry's actual difficulties.

In his concluding remarks, Wang Guanghui stated that the China Water Resources and Electric Power Quality Management Association has always regarded promoting the high-quality development of the industry as its mission. In this “Year of Think Tank Capacity Building,” the Association must further demonstrate the responsibility expected of centrally designated and state-affiliated organizations. From a professional quality perspective, the Association will conduct in-depth research, prepare a special report to offer recommendations to government departments, and promote the transformation of photovoltaic module recycling from an “industry initiative” into a quality practice that is “quantifiable, evaluable, and certifiable.” He proposed five key areas of work: establishing a full life-cycle quality management system, accelerating the development of a recycling standards system, fostering a “truly trustworthy” recycling industry ecosystem, promoting quality innovation in recycling technologies, and exploring quality-enabled business models.