As coastal photovoltaic power plants, tidal flat PV projects and offshore floating solar bases expand rapidly across Southeast Asia and China’s eastern coastline, long-term salt spray erosion has become a core hidden danger shortening the service life of photovoltaic modules and increasing post-operation maintenance costs. Traditional aluminum alloy frames are prone to electrochemical corrosion after 3–5 years of operation in high-salt, high-humidity coastal environments, leading to frame peeling, deformation, water ingress into panels and even hidden risks of component failure.
According to environmental durability testing data from the National New Energy Product Testing Center, conventional anodized aluminum PV frames show obvious corrosion pits after 1500 hours of neutral salt spray testing, while Hongsheng glass fiber reinforced polyurethane composite photovoltaic frames successfully pass 6000-hour ultra-long salt spray aging testing with no rust, no oxidation and no structural deformation.
Unlike metal frames that rely on surface coating for anti-corrosion protection, Hongsheng composite frames adopt integral non-metallic molding structure without metal conductive substrates. There is no possibility of electrolytic corrosion when matched with glass, aluminum backsheet and mounting brackets, fundamentally solving the persistent corrosion pain point of photovoltaic equipment in coastal and marine scenarios.
In a 200MW tidal flat photovoltaic project in Fujian coastal area that has been in operation for 6 years, the aluminum alloy frames used in the early stage have more than 40% of components with surface blistering and paint peeling, requiring batch replacement and overhaul; while the first batch of Hongsheng composite frames put into use in the same project remain intact in appearance and structural performance, with no maintenance records generated in the whole life cycle.
Industry cost accounting shows that although the initial procurement cost of composite frames is slightly higher than ordinary aluminum frames, they can cut later maintenance, replacement and shutdown loss expenses by nearly 35% within the 25-year design life of the photovoltaic power station. For offshore and coastal distributed PV investors, the overall life-cycle cost advantage is extremely prominent.
Hongsheng R&D team also completed wind tunnel simulation verification targeting super typhoon weather. Under the simulated extreme wind speed of 65m/s, the composite frame still maintains structural integrity without bending or cracking, which is compatible with typhoon resistance requirements in the northwest Pacific typhoon belt covering China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other regions.
With the global offshore photovoltaic market entering a rapid construction period, anti-corrosion, wind-resistant and low-maintenance composite photovoltaic frames are gradually listed as recommended supporting accessories by many EPC engineering enterprises, becoming a differentiated competitive product in the mid-to-high end PV auxiliary material market.
