ChengDu Tianwei New Energy PV Module Co. Ltd. (Tianwei) has selected stringing and tabbing systems from Spire as well as multiple ‘Spi-Assembler’ 6000 systems to fully automate the soldering of individual solar cells into strings ready for busing. Tianwei is automating these production steps as part of its plans to increase capacity of its solar cell products.
“We are very active in the photovoltaics industry and recognize the importance of automating key aspects of the production of modules, noted Mr. Guo Ai Hua, General Manager of Tianwei New Energy. “After evaluating the many options, from Chinese to European and American manufacturers, Spire was the clear choice. Their equipment is state-of-the-art and offers the kind of reliability we need to continue our growth and success.”
“We are extremely pleased to be working closely with Tianwei on this critical step in their expansion. They recognize the need to automate key manufacturing steps to increase their production. Spire has more than eighty assemblers in the field or under contract. Using today’s high efficiency cells, this represents nearly a gigawatt of production capacity; our system is a workhorse in the industry,” said, Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporation. “The Chinese market is growing rapidly and represents a great future. Spire is very active in China in both the expansion and turnkey factory segments.”
Tianwei is expected to have 100MW of cell capacity and 60MW of installed PV module capacity by the end of 2008. In 2009, the company is planning to increase total cell and module capacity to 300MW.