Capital expenditure (capex) for solar cell manufacturing is to see increased contributions in 2017 from Vietnam, India and Thailand, expanding the global footprint of cell manufacturing outside China across different countries in the Asia region.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems has reported new solar orders since the end of September, 2016 have topped US$60 million, driven by PV manufacturers in China, Malaysia and Taiwan.
According to the ongoing analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansions by PV Tech, high-efficiency solar cell migrations, whether monocrystalline or multicrystalline with PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Contact) and N-type mono heterojunction (HJ) have been gaining strong momentum since 2015.
The lack of information in a joint press release from Tesla and Panasonic, confirming a solar cell manufacturing partnership at the SolarCity/Silevo 1GW Buffalo fab in New York State was not a surprise, especially considering it merely rubber stamped an MOU previously announced that was only subject to the successful acquisition by Tesla of SolarCity.
Subsidies for Indian cell and module manufacturers are being hampered by delays, as shown by data from the Department for Electronics and Information Technology.
Aurora Solar Technologies has introduced an enhanced version of its ‘Decima’ inline measurement system for quality control of bi-facial solar cells during production. ‘Decima Gemini’ consists of a specialized pair of Decima CD measurement heads that enables the sheet resistance of the wafers' back-surface field and emitter to be measured accurately and simultaneously.
PV manufacturing equipment specialist INDEOtec SA has been awarded a grant from the SWISS Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) to further develop its OCTOPUS deposition platform for heterojunction solar cells in partnership with Swiss research partner, CSEM.
China-based PV module manufacturer Wuxi Suntech, a subsidiary of diversified renewables firm, Shunfeng International Clean Energy (SFCE) has said it has achieved multicrystalline Passivated Emitter Rear Contact (PERC) cell efficiencies of 20% in production.
Key Taiwan-based PV manufacturers have reported December, 2016 sales and indicated fourth quarter and full-year sales figures, which were primarily impacted by a slump in demand in the second half of the year.
As part of PV Tech’s ongoing analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements, an important aspect remains the ever evolving geographical footprint of the upstream market of dedicated solar cell, module assembly, thin film and c-Si integrated facilities.
