Fab & Facilities

In this quarterly report of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the first half of 2016, key analysis is given on the continued high level of activity through the second quarter of the year. This report also includes a new bottom-up analysis of ‘effective’ capacity expansions since the beginning of 2014 to provide a better and more accurate assessment of the current manufacturing environment.

The production toolset is not the only significant source of power consumption in PV cell production. Cooling water, climatization, pressurized air and, in some cases, clean-room conditions drive up the electrical energy demand, while geographical location also has an influence. The extent of this additional consumption over and above the toolset is demonstrated by a number of quantitative examples in this paper.

In this quarterly report a full analysis is given for the first time of two years’ worth (2014-15) of PV manufacturers’ capacity expansion announcements as well as an assessment of announcements that have or are planned to convert to effective new nameplate capacity through to the end of 2016. The analysis provides the first insight into new capacity ramp profiles of effective capacity expansions over the last two-year period and highlights future ramp profiles expected through to the end of 2016.

With global business an increasing reality for PV, the role of logistics is transforming from service provider to true partner. This article makes the case for integrated partnership to move plant, products and business in the right direction.

This report focuses on expansion announcements in the third quarter of 2015, which was expected to be the low point in new capacity expansion announcements. Momentum seen during the first half of the year, however, carried through, and so a full nine-month analysis is also provided, to further characterize developments in 2015.

As other entrants in the solar industry scramble to build greater efficiencies into their supply chain, the leading companies focus on manufacturing strengths such as zero-defect quality along the entire supply chain. When it comes to supply chain excellence, the solar industry as a whole is playing catch-up. However, there are players who have already made substantial progress here, having already adopted ‘lean’ practices to eliminate inefficiencies at source. REC, the largest European brand of solar panels and a world leader in the industry, is maintaining its strong position. The company’s practices and principles are explained in detail in this paper.

In this quarterly report we will provide full first-half 2015 analysis that shows a massive shift in the geographical location of planned production plants, as well as details on key capacity announcements in the months of May and June. The analysis of April’s capacity announcements were reported in the previous quarterly report. Despite April announcements being so low, May proved to be a blockbuster month. The return of meaningful solar cell capacity plans reiterates the strength in the recovery and the first attempts for many years by leading PV manufacturers to rebalance cell and module production as next- generation PERC technology leads the cell rebalancing act.

R&D expenditure by major PV module manufacturers showed a remarkable turnaround in 2014. Previous reports had noted, especially in 2013, that R&D spending had not been immune to the PV industry’s period of profitless prosperity and was deemed a discretionary spend by the majority of leading producers. A return to profitability for many in 2014 resulted in a year of new record spending. There was record spending from 11 of the 12 companies covered, with Hanwha Q CELLS' spending actually declining in 2014.

In this first quarterly report of 2015 a full first-quarter analysis will be presented, as well as the planned capacity announcements for March and April. Notably this will include Tier 1 manufacturers’ plans and a special lookat Malaysia and its potential for another wave of companies planning manufacturing operations in the country.Finally, further analysis of the potential renaissance in thin-film production will be provided.

The manufacturers of silicon wafer solar cells are constantly looking into cost-effective ways to increase the efficiency of their solar cells. Most of these enhancements result from incremental improvements and can be achieved by optimizing existing processes. However, it is widely recognized that in order to further improve the silicon wafer solar cell efficiency, new solar cell architectures are required. This will in turn require new manufacturing processes, which will typically involve new production equipment and consumables. New consumables can play an important role in the applicability or success of a new process step; in this paper a specific focus will be on the precursors used for the deposition of surface passivation films, such as silicon nitride and aluminium oxide.