PV CellTech Talk: Finlay Colville, Chairman of Technical Advisory Board

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
PV-Tech spoke to Finlay Colville, the PV CellTech conference Chair, and head of market research at PV-Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd. Credit: PV Tech

One of the key sessions at PV CellTech 2017 in Penang, Malaysia, on 14-15 March 2017, is on GW-cell expansions across Southeast Asia and India, and there is a powerful selection of speakers lined up here.

PV-Tech spoke to Finlay Colville, the PV CellTech conference Chair, and head of market research at PV-Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Why has cell manufacturing become important in Southeast Asia and India, in recent years?

Southeast Asia and India have always been strong solar cell manufacturing locations, with cell production in India going back two decades with BP Solar’s original arrangement with Tata in Bangalore. Southeast Asia was also identified early by SunPower and First Solar for their production line hubs, with REC Solar and Q-CELLS (now Hanwha Q-CELLS) also citing non-European expansions there too.

Lumping in South Korea into the Southeast Asia zone, and the introduction of Korean cell makers about 10 years ago then saw this country become a cell production powerhouse, driven by LG Electronics, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Shinsung.

India went through a period of chronic underutilization when global pricing collapsed in 2012, but in recent years has been going through a revival. Until now, Indosolar has been the leading cell maker in the country, but is likely to be surpassed by Adani Group with its GW cell capacity currently being ramped up. Both Indosolar and Adani Group are speaking at PV CellTech 2017 next week.

But the big change occurred with the US and Europe imposed restrictions on cells and modules produced in China and Taiwan. This was the catalyst to leading cell and module producers in China and Taiwan either adding new capacity in Southeast Asia (mainly Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) or shipping production lines offshore to one of these countries.

The other interesting development has been contract OEM cell production in Southeast Asia.

What are the differences with the OEM suppliers, and how does this impact on technology?

The solar industry has always had contract-based manufacturers, but in the past this was limited to module assembly. Companies such as Jabil, Flextronics and Celestica were among the non-China go-to routes then, for companies requiring production nearer end-market deployment locations for example.

But today we have contract manufacturers in Southeast Asia that are also making high volumes of solar cells, including Boviet Solar and Vina Solar. Within this group, the leader is Boviet Solar, and this company has been moving also to own-brand supply, in particular to the US market. Boviet Solar is speaking at PV CellTech 2017.

It will be fascinating to see what Boviet Solar’s technology roadmap is, as in the past, contract manufacturers were not heavy on R&D spend, in part due to being module assemblers only.

Is cell production reflected in the new cell capacity across Southeast Asia and India? Often, we get many announcements of new fabs that do not come to fruition.

Yes, this can be tracked with accuracy. The figure below shows these trends, where we segment production regions into China & Taiwan, Southeast Asia & India, and the Rest of the World (RoW).

Credit: PV Tech

You can see from the graphic that 2017 and 2018 are expected to be years that cell production really starts to move outside China and Taiwan, but this still depends on how much cell capacity can be utilised in China for domestic consumption. If the China end-market softens more than expected in 2017 and 2018, then the relative market-share gains from Southeast Asia and India will be even greater than shown above.

PV Tech: The session at PV CellTech on Southeast Asia and India takes place on the morning of day-2 (15 March 2017), with the following speakers and topics.

Credit: PV Tech

PV CellTech takes place on 14-15 March 2017 in Penang, Malaysia. To register to attend the event, please use this link.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
2 December 2025
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2026. PV ModuleTech Europe 2025 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

June 27, 2025
Indian solar manufacturer Premier Energies has commissioned its 1.2GW TOPCon solar cell manufacturing line at Fab City, Hyderabad, Telangana.
June 26, 2025
ACEN has partnered with UPC Renewables to build two renewable projects in Rajasthan and Karnataka, India. 
June 25, 2025
Emmvee has secured INR15 billion (US$174 million) order for TOPCon bifacial solar modules from KPI Green Energy. 
June 25, 2025
State-owned firm Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has launched a solar-plus-storage tender seeking 1.2GW of solar PV.
June 24, 2025
Chinese solar manufacturing giant LONGi has signed an agreement with Indonesia’s Pertamina New & Renewable Energy to build a 1.4GW module assembly plant in West Java, Indonesia.
June 24, 2025
Waaree Renewable Technologies has signed an MoU with Viet Khanh to establish a 100MWp solar project in the region. 

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico