LONGi continues to improve the refined environmental management in the process of production and operation, increase investment in environmental protection, and reduce environmental impact. Following the national policies on clean production audit, we have established an environmental management system led by the Company’s EHS Management Committee. In 2023, LONGi invested a total of RMB558.33 million in environmental protection and recorded zero major illegal emissions and leakage incidents.
As of the end of the reporting period, LONGi has
Environmental management
In 2023, LONGi launched specialized inspections and empowerment initiatives to bolster the implementation of environmental management systems and enhance overall environmental management skills. We conducted specialized managerial tasks to standardize environmental practices, creating assessment checklists based on policy requirements, and performed targeted inspections at all bases, promoting hazard rectification. We recognized four bases as “model bases” for excellence in environmental management. At the same time, systematic empowerment was provided to all sites through training and seminars. At the group level, 14 internal empowerment sessions were held with 1,554 participants; business units and centers conducted 163 hours of cascaded training with 17,523 person-times of participaticipation; on-site seminars established communication platforms that generated solutions for 27 existing challenging issues. Additionally, to drive the standardized management of “environmental investment” data, we refined the definitions of environmental investment categories, achieving one-click retrieval of environmental investment data.
LONGi’s main system documents on internal environmental management
Waste gas management
The waste gas produced by LONGi mainly includes nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter, etc. We formulated emission reduction management plans for different manufacturing processes and carried out inspections and emission reduction guidance in 31 operating bases during the reporting period to ensure the implementation of relevant standards.
In 2023, LONGi’s production bases proactively upgraded waste gas treatment facilities to improve treatment efficiency and reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic gases. Among them, the new wet scrubbers of Qujing Mono-crystalline Silicon Plant have improved the capacity of nitrogen waste gas treatment devices, raising the acid fog waste gas treatment efficiency to more than 95%. Moreover, Xi’an Module Plant has upgraded the treatment process of lamination waste gas and added the regenerative catalytic combustion process to improve the treatment efficiency of non-methane hydrocarbons.
LONGi’s waste gas emission in 2023
Wastewater management
LONGi’s industrial wastewater is mostly generated during processes such as silicon rod slicing, cell production, preparation of concentrated water, and ground cleaning. To mitigate water pressure and environmental impact, we have been improving the capacity of wastewater treatment to ensure that wastewater meets the discharge requirements before entering the municipal pipe network. In 2023, we adopted measures such as coal mine drainage recycling and evaporation and filtration wastewater recycling, which further reduced production wastewater discharge.
Case｜ LONGi implemented the wastewater treatment capacity improvement project
In 2023, several production bases of LONGi carried out wastewater discharge reduction projects. Shaanxi LONGi solved the problems of chloride ion erosion in the original ultrafiltration (UF) system, second-stage membrane fouling in reclaimed water reverse osmosis (RO), and the low position of the drainage pipe of the reclaimed water and concentrated water tanks. In doing so, Shaanxi LONGi ensured a more environmentally friendly and stable reclaimed water treatment system and reduced tap water consumption by 1.26 m3/10,000 wafers. In response to the increase in wastewater pollutants caused by greater production capacity, some of LONGi’s production bases in Yunnan, Ningxia, and Xi’an have upgraded the wastewater treatment system and installed the Fenton treatment system, effectively controlling the discharge of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in wastewater.
LONGi’s wastewater discharge in 2023
Solid waste management
LONGi has established a complete system for technical guidance and regular diagnosis and assessment to improve waste management ability. For the disposal of hazardous waste, we entrust third parties with business licenses of hazardous waste utilization or disposal and track the entire process to ensure the closed-loop management of hazardous waste. For non-hazardous waste treatment, we mainly adopt comprehensive utilization by selling, supplemented by disposal, to improve the recycling rate of non-hazardous waste.
In 2023, we carried out a special project to recycle solid waste and reduce emissions at the source. Specifically, we minimized solid waste generation by identifying dangerous characteristics and selling the recycled solid waste as by-products. As a result, the recycling rate of non-hazardous waste increased to 73.3%.
