Solar cell production in 2018 represented change on many fronts, but may be remembered as a year during which Chinese-owned companies made further strategic moves as part of the current Beijing mandate to position the country as a high-tech manufacturing global powerhouse.
US-headquartered high-efficiency solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp has started changing its long-held strategy of supplying only its in-house produced E Series and X Series panels to residential and C&I (Commerical and Industrial) PV projects in the US.
Jinergy gets bifacial HJ modules approved for UAE projects, while
LONGi teams with BayWa r.e. on global distribution deal and JinkoSolar supplies 132MW of modules to Swinerton for Nevada project.
Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, a subsidiary of LONGi Green Energy Technology, has reported that TUV-SUD has verified its 60-cell P-type monocrystalline PERC module to have a conversion efficiency of 20.83% - yet another new industry record.
Leading monocrystalline wafer producer and ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Green Energy Technology increased revenue by 35.26% in the first nine months of 2018, yet third quarter revenue and profits were significantly lower than the previous quarter, due to ASP declines across wafers and modules.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, a subsidiary of leading monocrystalline wafer producer LONGi Green Energy Technology Co is to offer its first AC module to the US market in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has acknowledged its recognition as a ‘Top Performer’ in DNV GL's 2018 PV Module Reliability Scorecard results, which were announced at SNEC in China in May.
Following-on from our recent analysis of Tesla’s solar panel supply base changing rapidly, the same is true of leading public listed US residential installer, Sunrun.
We have tracked the annual R&D spending of 12 key publicly listed PV module manufacturers over the last 10 years. We present our new methodology with a broader scope which reveals record levels of investment in solar innovation.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, a subsidiary of leading monocrystalline wafer producer LONGi Green Energy Technology Co has renewed its R&D partnership with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a world renowned university involved in photovoltaic research.
China-based PV module assembly equipment specialist Yingkou Jinchen Machinery Co reported record second quarter 2018 operating income as key PV manufacturers in China continued to add new module capacity in the first half of 2018, notably through fully-automated solar module assembly lines.
China-based integrated polysilicon and merchant cell manufacturer Tongwei Group expects to begin pilot production of heterojunction (HJ) solar cells by the end of 2018, while the success of its 200MW Industry 4.0 fully-automated solar cell production line will lead to a longer-term migration of all cell production to intelligent manufacturing.
Ahead of PV ModuleTech conference, Finlay Colville takes an in-depth look at the type of module companies that will be internationally known over the next 12-18 months.
As module suppliers adapt to the slowdown of Chinese module demand in 2018 and 2019, global EPCs and developers are likely to see new Asian-produced panels being offered for both rooftop and ground-mount installations.
