Encapsulant provider Changzhou Better Film is to invest RMB800 million (US$125 million) into establishing 20GW of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) production in the Chinese city of Chuzhou.
At a signing ceremony for the investment held on 10 January, attendees discussed “deepening the development and cooperation of the photovoltaic film industry” with other sectors of the energy industry.
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The expansion is to bolster the solar industry’s supply of the encapsulant, a critical component for module manufacturing, amidst concerns of EVA supply becoming a bottleneck as solar wafer, cell and module manufacturing capacity expands.
The thermoplastic polymer encapsulant is currently a bottleneck in solar PV module production, according to anecdotal evidence on the ground, and the new facility will therefore go someway in helping to alleviate a reported shortage.
Module manufacturers LONGi, JinkoSolar and Suntech have production centres in Chuzhou and, “as a supporting enterprise of photovoltaic modules”, Changzhou Better Film intends to “give full play to its own advantages in technology”, according to a company media release.
