PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the first quarter of 2018 continued to follow the strong trend set in the fourth quarter of 2017. The quarter also represented a revival in thin-film expansion plans as well as the return of PV module assembly outpacing solar cell announcements. Also notable was the return of India and the US as major destinations for new capacity plans.
Researchers at EPFL’s Photovoltaics Laboratory and the CSEM PV-center have reported a record tandem junction solar cell with conversion efficiencies of 25.2%, using a standard monocrystalline cell and an evaporation and spin-on process to fully coat the structure.
France-based specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Semco Technologies has announced at SNEC 2018 that its complete suite of PV manufacturing equipment would be spun-off and form a Joint Venture (JV) business in China with Ganshang Technology Group, a Suzhou City-based holding group combining smart economy with industrial investment.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has said that the pioneer of heterojunction solar cell technology, Panasonic has decided to fast-track the evaluation of its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) in an effort to boost its cell and module performance.
China-based PV module materials and N-type mono and IBC (Interdigitated Back Contact) bifacial module manufacturer Jolywood is partnering with European research and innovation hub centre, imec to bring to market an industrialized bifacial solar cells with an average front-side conversion efficiency up to 21.9%.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, subsidiary of LONGi Green Energy, the leading integrated monocrystalline PV manufacturer has set a new P-type mono bifacial ‘shingled’ cell formatted module conversion efficiency record of 20.66%.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has reset the P-type monocrystalline cell conversion efficiency record at 23.95%, through a range of wafer to cell optimisation, notably its selective emitter (SE) formation.
The International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. (ISC Konstanz) has signed a technology transfer agreement with PV module assembly equipment supplier based in Finland for R&D centre’s advanced ‘BiSoN’ (Bifacial Solar cell On N-type) and ZEBRA (diffused n-type IBC) solar cell technology.
Specialist semiconductor and PV equipment supplier Intevac reiterated that its 12 unit ‘ENERGi’ solar ion implant tool order valued at around US$23 million that was booked in March, 2017 remained in its order backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Leading integrated high-efficiency monocrystalline module manufacturer and ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Green Energy Technology set a new solar industry R&D expenditure record in 2017, not only surpassing the two historical leaders, First Solar and SunPower, but also spending more in one year than any PV manufacturer to date.
