The chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, Jifan Gao, has raised the spectre of module overcapacity in 2016. Mark Osborne asks if the global solar industry should be worried.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar is adding 1GW of solar module capacity per quarter through to the end of the first-half of 2016 to meet the ‘minimum’ expected demand for its products.
Major PV energy provider SunPower has said its recently launched ‘Helix’ Roof product was able to be installed by at least two and a half times faster than competing commercial rooftop systems, after consultancy DNV GL undertook a ‘Mounting System Installation Efficiency Test’ in December 2015.
Struggling renewables firm SunEdison has partnered with Chinese state-owned enterprise, Jinneng Group to build a 1.5GW integrated n-type monocrystalline heterojunction production facility in Shanxi Jinzhong Industrial Park, Shanxi, China.
Early results from a test array in Germany using bifacial ‘BiSoN’ module technology have indicated significant yield gains compared to a nearby reference site using standard modules.
Integrated PV module manufacturer REC Solar has reported PV module shipments of 1,159MW for 2015, compared to European headquartered rival, SolarWorld that had reported total ‘product’ shipments, of exactly the same figure.
GCL Systems has claimed several important shipment and capacity metrics that would catapult the company into the top-10 manufacturer rankings for 2015. Mark Osborne takes a closer look at the figures.
