A personal perspective on why a solar company could take on its rivals and thrive in a year full of disruptions to the industry but report record results and revenue growth that is unlikely to be topped by any other PV manufacturer in 2018.
The recent announcement from India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) to approve a 12GW solar scheme for central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) – crucially mandating the use of domestically sourced solar cells and modules – represents the first key step towards India finally creating a route to stimulate multi-GW expansions for new cell and module facilities.
The PV CellTech 2019 meeting takes place in Penang, Malaysia on 12-13 March 2019. Going into its fourth year, PV CellTech has firmly become the key event for all CTOs and heads-of-R&D.
When we established the Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) a few years ago, it was prompted by the realisation that a select group of solar PV module suppliers were moving away from the 100+ chasing pack, and firmly establishing themselves as the companies that would be the dominant players as the industry moved towards and above annual shipment levels of 100GW.
This article reveals the top 10 module suppliers of 2018, based purely on own-brand shipped module MWp-dc volumes. This ranking complements our recently published top 10 cell producers feature.
PV CellTech 2019 takes place in Penang, Malaysia on 12-13 March 2019, and once again will feature keynote presentations from CTOs and heads-of-R&D from the leading multi-GW cell producers of the industry in 2019.
Back in 2014, p-type mono PERC cell production was less than 1GW. During 2019, production is forecast to exceed 60GW as the dominant technology type deployed by the solar industry for module assembly.
Solar cell production in 2018 represented change on many fronts, but may be remembered as a year during which Chinese-owned companies made further strategic moves as part of the current Beijing mandate to position the country as a high-tech manufacturing global powerhouse.
Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co has launched two differentiated high-efficiency N-type mono PV modules. The new products, the JW-HT&HD Series ‘Paving’ module boasts a front power of 430W, efficiency of 20.5%, integrated power of 530W with efficiency of 25.4%, as well as a rear power gain of 30%. The JW-HF Series ultra-light flexible module weighs 3.75kg per sqm, due to the advanced composite encapsulation materials.
US-headquartered high-efficiency solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp has started changing its long-held strategy of supplying only its in-house produced E Series and X Series panels to residential and C&I (Commerical and Industrial) PV projects in the US.
