Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger Technology has announced orders worth over US$146 million in the last four months, which includes a new order worth CHF 18 million (US$18.03 million) for its PERC cell technology and SiNA cell coating systems from two customers based in Asia.
Solar cells produced using p-type multi c-Si wafers retained their dominant market-share position in 2016, despite significant investments into p-type mono and advanced cell production, such as PERC. The transition to increased mono wafer use is now expected to be seen more clearly during 2017 and 2018, but depends still upon the relative end-market demand from the domestic Chinese market.
Indian state-owned electricity equipment supplier and PV project developer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has officially opened its upgraded and extended PV module manufacturing operations in Bangalore, Karnataka state, India.
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.
PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has finally secured the largest equipment order in the history of the company after securing orders for two turnkey CIGS production lines totalling 350MW nameplate capacity with China-based Shanghai Electric Group and Shenhua Group.
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.
China-based integrated monocrystalline PV producer, Solargiga Energy Holdings has reported unaudited shipments and revenue for 2016, which highlights only a small year-on-year revenue gain, despite product shipments increasing 34% as ASP declines worsened in the fourth quarter of the year.
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.
