Major flat panel display manufacturer AU Optronics Corp reported a significant reduction in its solar business unit’s losses in 2016, after receiving a US$170.1 million cash payout from SunPower to exit its joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations in Malaysia, last September.
Dedicated monocrystalline integrated PV module manufacturer SolarWorld believes 2017 is a transitional year for the company after announcing a switch to monocrystalline production at the expense of multicrystalline and a full-migration to PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) technology as ASP declines in the second-half of 2016 forced a major manufacturing rethink.
REC Group has introduced an all-black variant of its ‘TwinPeak 2’ Series PV module for US and European residential markets. The REC TwinPeak 2 BLK2 Series has a nominal power rating of up to 285Wp, using its half-cut cell and PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) technology and uniformly black-colored multicrystalline cells.
Sharp is making available its NQ-R256A (256W) monocrystalline PV module to the European market, which incorporates back contact cell technology for efficiencies of 19.8%. The 48-cell configuration has proved popular in Japan and can maximize rooftop area, compared to conventional 60-cell configured modules.
JinkoSolar has introduced the Eagle MX solar panel, its next generation smart module for the high-volume mainstream PV panel market that incorporates a new innovative cell-string optimizer technology.
Diversified renewable energy firm Shunfeng International Clean Energy (SFCE) had previously warned that it expected to report a loss in 2016 of around US$133 million (RMB 923 million) due to a catalogue of issues but revised analysis by the company put the figure significantly higher at around US$348 million.
Many key PV manufacturers in Taiwan are still reporting monthly sales in February, 2017 that are well below the levels set in the first half of 2016, due primarily to the expected boom in China’s downstream PV market, which has yet to take hold.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS is allocating only US$50 million to capital expenditures in 2017, indicating there would be no new in-house capacity expansions in 2017.
Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) member JA Solar is continuing to expand manufacturing capacity in 2017 after guiding total shipments to be in the range of 6GW to 6.5GW, up from 5.2GW in 2016.
