‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JA Solar has started the volume production ramp at its 10GW Yiwu Information Optoelectronic High-tech Industrial Park manufacturing hub that was officially announced at the start of 2020.
PV Tech’s analysis of ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JA Solar’s capacity expansion announcements in the first nine months of 2020 have revealed the company has already announced a total of over 104GW of combined plans, including ingot/wafer, solar cell and module assembly.
Leading ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has made a major revision to its PV module assembly capacity expansion plans for 2020, intending to nearly double its nameplate assembly capacity to a new goal of 30GW by the end of 2020.
The rapid transition in the upstream manufacturing solar sector to significantly larger p-type and n-type monocrystalline wafers, cells and modules may be hailed as a new era for the industry in higher module performance and a leap in reducing PV power plants LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) in a rapidly changing downstream market that becomes subsidy free, bidding orientated and targeting grid parity and beyond. But issues such as reliability lurk just below the surface.
Major integrated PV module manufacturer, Suntech has started ramping up a 1GW integrated cell and module assembly plant in Indonesia, predominantly to serve the US market that takes its nameplate module assembly capacity above 10GW.
Major polysilicon and merchant cell producer, Tongwei has secured a monocrystalline wafer supply deal from LONGi Green Energy (LONGi Group) that increases its wafer needs by 1 billion wafers to 2.6 billion as the cell producer plans to have more than 40GW of solar cell capacity in 2021.
Major merchant solar cell producer Aiko Solar may have increased first half year revenue 30% compared to the prior year period, but COVID-19 and solar cell average price declines, triggered by weak demand, sent net profits falling by 68% year-on-year.
Leading monocrystalline wafer producer and ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, LONGi Green Energy has defied the downward pricing pressure on its core wafer business and weak global demand, driven by the impact of COVID-19 on the solar industry supply chain to report record revenue, profit, and module shipments in the first half of 2020.
‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar has reported its first financial results since delisting from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) almost four years ago, starting with record first half year PV module shipments of 5,840MW, a 37% increase of the prior year period.
Leading ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has achieved a record large-area N-type monocrystalline silicon solar cell conversion efficiency of 24.79%, independently confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH), Germany.
