This article reveals the most important PV manufacturers and suppliers to the solar industry in 2016. The new analysis and methodology explains exactly which companies are currently controlling, shaping and influencing all metrics related to upstream manufacturing trends and final end-market module shipments.
By any ‘normal’ metrics, PV thin-film equipment and module producer Hanergy Thin Film Power Group (Hanergy TF) remains in a dire financial position after reporting a non-cash loss of around US$1.58 billion in 2015 and its biggest customer and parent company, Hanergy Holdings and its affiliates failed to make due payments of around US$680 million.
Integrated PV module manufacturer REC Solar has said that it would migrate all production at its manufacturing facility in Tuas, Singapore to its half-cut PERC cell technology, used for its ‘TwinPeak’ series modules.
Japanese thin-film manufacturer Solar Frontier has heralded a 150MW module supply deal in the US as a major step towards its final decision on building a factory in America.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar has officially started ramping its solar cell and module assembly plant in Rayong, Thailand, meeting every milestone on schedule, from groundbreaking to production, according to the company.
Integrated China-based monocrystalline PV producer, Solargiga Energy Holdings as expected from preliminary announcements, reported only a small increase in revenue for 2015, however the company returned to a small net profit, compared to a net loss in 2014.
Integrated PV manufacturer REC Solar is to invest a total of $200 million Singapore dollars (US$182.3 million) in expanding and upgrading production at its facilities in Singapore. The company also plans to invest a further US$50 million in R&D activities at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), with emphasis on a type of PV module.
Yaskawa – Solectria Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of robot and industrial motor company Yaskawa America, is planning to install a 500MW central solar inverter manufacturing line within an existing factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to help support the Latin American PV market.
When Jan Marc Luchies from Tempress Systems (Amtech Systems) took to the stage last week – on the second day of the inaugural PVCellTech conference in Kuala Lumpur on 17 March 2016 – equipment supplier Amtech Systems capitalized on this platform with a press release to highlight a sharp uptick in new order intake for its PV operations over the past two months, taking the company’s solar bookings to approximately US$50 million since October 2015.
