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.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in January, 2017 have remained subdued and continue the trend set in the second-half of 2016.
While third-party outsourcing of solar PV module assembly has been a constant feature of the PV industry for many years, the landscape of suppliers and the country of manufacturing has changed radically in the past two years, and will continue to do so out to the end of 2018.
While there is no shortage of leading indicators in the PV industry that can be used to predict future trends in manufacturing and across the various companies involved in this space, one of the most pertinent ones relates to capital expenditure (or capex).
Solar PV is taking off in Vietnam with many international and domestic investors showing intention to develop projects in the central and south of the country, according to Hoa Vu Phuong, specialist, international relations department, Institute of Energy, Vietnam.
