China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has opened a public consultation on six proposed electronic industry standards for photovoltaic product classification and grading.
The draft represents one of China’s first attempts to introduce a structured grading system for PV products. By ranking modules into quality tiers rather than applying a simple pass-fail standard, the framework could influence procurement, financing, and insurance decisions across the solar sector.
The proposed framework evaluates products across three categories: reliability, power-generation performance, and green attributes. Modules would be scored against a series of indicators under each category and assigned an overall grade. Products scoring 80 points or higher would qualify as Grade 1, those scoring 60 to 79 would be classified as Grade 2, and those scoring below 60 would fall into Grade 3.
Reliability is a key component of the proposed standard. The framework introduces differentiated testing requirements tailored to specific climate and application conditions, moving beyond uniform baseline testing. It incorporates conventional reliability tests such as thermal cycling, damp heat, damp-freeze, mechanical load, snow load, hail resistance, and potential-induced degradation (PID), as well as additional assessments for sand and dust exposure, marine environments, ultraviolet aging, and coupled-stress conditions.
The performance section establishes different efficiency and bifaciality thresholds for major n-type technologies, including TOPCon, heterojunction (HJT), and back-contact (BC) modules. The draft sets A+ efficiency thresholds at 25% for TOPCon, 24.8% for HJT, and 25.2% for BC products, together with corresponding bifaciality requirements. According to Huatai Securities, the minimum efficiency thresholds proposed in the draft are 23.4% for TOPCon, 23.5% for HJT, and 23.9% for BC modules.
The green-attributes category incorporates carbon and environmental metrics into the grading system. Criteria are expected to include manufacturing energy consumption, carbon intensity, lifecycle carbon footprint, recyclability, and material-related environmental performance. As a result, the standard could influence not only domestic project tenders but also manufacturers targeting overseas markets with more stringent sustainability requirements.
The framework is expected to have its greatest impact on centralized PV procurement. China’s large state-owned power developers frequently incorporate official standards into tender qualification requirements and scoring systems. If Grade 1 or Grade 2 products become preferred in utility-scale procurement, lower-efficiency PERC modules and earlier-generation TOPCon products could gradually lose access to mainstream ground-mounted projects.
In a recent research report, Huatai Securities estimated that the proposed standard could accelerate capacity rationalization across the industry. Under a baseline scenario based on current mainstream product efficiencies, the banking firm said approximately 317.5 GW of TOPCon capacity and 10.2 GW of HJT capacity could become non-competitive, while BC capacity would remain unaffected. The total impacted capacity would reach about 327.6 GW, equivalent to roughly one-third of industry capacity.
Under a more optimistic scenario, in which manufacturers upgrade products toward the efficiency levels of current leading modules, Huatai estimated that potential capacity exits would decline to 143.4 GW for TOPCon and 10.2 GW for HJT, for a combined total of 153.6 GW, or around 15% of installed manufacturing capacity. Huatai Securities said TOPCon would account for most of the affected capacity, as older production lines face increasing pressure to adopt technologies such as multi-cut cells, rear-side efficiency improvements, and enhanced passivation processes.
Under China’s administrative framework, the proposed measures are recommended industry standards rather than mandatory national regulations. They would not prohibit the production, sale, or export of lower-graded modules, provided those products continue to meet compulsory safety and market-access requirements. Their influence is therefore likely to be exerted through market mechanisms, including state-owned enterprise tenders, government-backed projects, financing assessments, insurance pricing, local incentive programs, and brand-based product segmentation.
The draft standards come after nearly two years of severe overcapacity and intense price competition across China’s solar manufacturing supply chain. Previous efforts to encourage capacity rationalization through market forces, industry coordination, and production controls have delivered limited results. The proposed grading framework represents another attempt to promote industry consolidation through standards development and procurement preferences rather than direct administrative intervention.
If widely adopted in project tenders and financing assessments, similar grading frameworks could eventually be extended upstream to cells, wafers, and polysilicon, increasing competitive pressure on older and less efficient manufacturing capacity throughout the solar value chain.
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