New analysis by the in-house market research team at PV-Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd. can exclusively reveal that Hanwha Q-CELLS was the number 1 solar PV cell manufacturer in 2016, based on megawatts of cells produced in-house across the year.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger Technology has announced orders worth over US$146 million in the last four months, which includes a new order worth CHF 18 million (US$18.03 million) for its PERC cell technology and SiNA cell coating systems from two customers based in Asia.
Solar cells produced using p-type multi c-Si wafers retained their dominant market-share position in 2016, despite significant investments into p-type mono and advanced cell production, such as PERC. The transition to increased mono wafer use is now expected to be seen more clearly during 2017 and 2018, but depends still upon the relative end-market demand from the domestic Chinese market.
Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) member JinkoSolar is to supply its high-efficiency Eagle PERC modules to the University of New South Wales, Australia, for one of its rooftop PV projects.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems has reported new solar orders since the end of September, 2016 have topped US$60 million, driven by PV manufacturers in China, Malaysia and Taiwan.
According to the ongoing analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansions by PV Tech, high-efficiency solar cell migrations, whether monocrystalline or multicrystalline with PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Contact) and N-type mono heterojunction (HJ) have been gaining strong momentum since 2015.
China-based PV module manufacturer Wuxi Suntech, a subsidiary of diversified renewables firm, Shunfeng International Clean Energy (SFCE) has said it has achieved multicrystalline Passivated Emitter Rear Contact (PERC) cell efficiencies of 20% in production.
China-based PV manufacturer GCL System Integration Technology (GCLS) has teamed with Vietnam-based OEM producer, Vina Solar Technology to establish a 600MW solar cell plant at Vina’s Bac Giang facilities.
US-Based wafer producer 1366 Technologies and ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS have jointly hit a new record of 19.6% efficiency for cells using the 'Direct wafer' process.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar has set a new world record of 22.61% efficiency for a p-type mono-crystalline cell, with Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) technology at its State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China.
