Leading polysilicon and solar wafer producer GCL-Poly Energy Holdings has announced that its new Xinjiang polysilicon production plant’s annual nameplate capacity will be increased to 60,000MT, up from the revised plans mid-year to increase the capacity from 40,000MT to 50,000MT.
Major polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie has reported a significant decline in the fortunes of its polysilicon business segment in the third quarter of 2018.
Polysilicon producer REC Silicon has been forced to sell solar grade (FBR) polysilicon below cash cost, due to weak demand and ASP declines, driven by demand curtailment in China and continued polysilicon capacity expansions.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member GCL System Integrated Technology Co (GCL-SI) is planning to sell up to RMB 1.0 billion (US$144 million) of sales invoices to a third party at a discount to improve its cash flow position.
PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the second quarter of 2018, were slightly higher than the previous quarter, although activity slumped specifically in June, after China’s decision to suddenly cap utility-scale and distributed generation (DG) projects (531 New Deal). But large-scale multi-gigawatt production plans in the first half of the year may have hidden an inevitable slowdown, despite the impact on downstream demand from the 531 New Deal.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) leader JinkoSolar said it had supplied 10MW of its P-type mono PERC ‘Eagle’ modules (JKM295M-60) series for a PV power plant project built by Huaneng Renewables in Inner Mongolia, China.
The Chinese government’s decision (531 New Deal) to curtail utility-scale and distributed generation (DG) PV deployments just after the SNEC trade show at the end of May, not only surprised the industry but has since fuelled a significant ASP decline of modules and inverters.
The long-standing CEO of major PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology, Pierre-Pascal Urbon has suddenly stepped down from his executive role and plans to leave the company altogether at the end of December, 2018.