With India’s solar cell and module manufacturing capacity at about 1,200MW and 5,600MW respectively in April this year, Bridge to India's Jyoti Gulia looks at the plight of domestic manufacturers in the face of China's traditional dominance of the sector.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger Technology has reported strengthening sales, orders and backlog in the first half of 2016, driven by planned capacity expansions from major PV manufacturers across wafer, cell and modules, primarily in Asia.
During the period 2006 to 2011, equipment spending for solar manufacturing was a really big deal for capital equipment suppliers. Companies such as GT Advanced Technologies (then GT Solar) and Applied Materials (serving thin-film and c-Si expansions alike) were clocking up billion-dollar plus backlogs.
Taiwan-based solar cell and wafer producers are being impacted by slowing demand from China and unfolding overcapacity that has resulted in ASP declines hitting monthly revenue figures since June.
China-based polysilicon and wafer producer Daqo New Energy has reported record production and financial metrics on strong demand in the second quarter of 2016.
Recent first half 2016 downstream PV installation figures for China have led industry advisory firm AECEA to project full-year figures could be in the 25GW to 30GW range, significantly ahead of planned installs of around 18GW.
China-based major EPC firm TBEA Sunoasis has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two Egyptian government agencies to build two 500MW PV power plants in the country.
PV Nano Cell has commercially developed ‘Sicrys’, a single-crystal, nanometric silver conductive ink delivering enhanced performance for digital conductive printing in mass production applications. The inks are also available in copper-based form, delivering all of the product’s properties and advantages with improved cost efficiency.
Major polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie reported flat second quarter polysilicon sales, despite stronger demand and higher average selling prices (ASPs) as inventory depletion limited shipments.
