India's government has made clear its intentions to cultivate a solar PV manufacturing base at home, but interest from foreign players has yet to be translated into major capacity expansions. PV Tech gathered views from various players - both foreign and domestic - about what steps need to be taken, while at the REI Expo 2018 exhibition in Greater Noida, India.
US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower Corp has said that its interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells and modules have been granted exclusion from the US Section 201 import tariffs that were imposed by President Trump in early 2018.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS has appointed a new chairman and CEO with former experience at the company as parent, Hanwha Group begins consolidating solar sector subsidiaries.
Manz launched its third generation ‘SpeedPicker’ 3.0 from its SAS series equipment for the specific handling of crystalline silicon wafers in the manufacturing of solar cells. SpeedPicker provides an automation solution for almost contact-free handling of solar cells throughout their entire production process.
China-based PV module materials and N-type mono module manufacturer Jolywood (Taizhou) Solar Technology Co is supplying Haixing New Energy, a subsidiary of the Chinese State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC) with high-efficiency modules totalling 64.6MW for a National Photovoltaic Leader Project.
Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co., (Jolywood) has introduced several new innovations into its N-type monocrystalline bifacial modules that boost cell and module efficiencies, improve durability while lowering balance of material (BOM) cost and overall levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).
Singulus Technologies two-step multicrystalline wafer texturing process on its inline ‘LINEX’ platform is said to reduce manufacturing costs and improve cell conversion efficiencies.
China-based polysilicon and multicrystalline wafer producer Daqo New Energy has said it would discontinue its solar wafer manufacturing operations in September, 2018.
Much has been written and voiced over the past couple of months in the PV industry, following the so-called China-531 policy announcement that finally provided a wake-up call to Chinese manufacturers that their domestic end-market was not going to be allowed to maintain its near-exponential growth characteristics.
Meyer Burger’s patented SmartWire Connection Technology (SWCT) uses a patented foil-wire electrode with up to 24 round wires to electrically interconnect solar cells and is said to set a benchmark in terms of module performance and low manufacturing costs within the ‘Ibex’ SWCT stringer system.
