Photovoltaics International Papers

PV manufacturing capacity expansions planned this year are expected to push production levels beyond anticipated demand in 2016, creating further cost pressures for suppliers.

Producing one multicrystalline silicon solar module per second does not suggest that the technology is about to disappear, based on the headline presentation at the first day of the inaugural PV CellTech conference in Malaysia.

Polysilicon spot prices had bottomed in January, 2016 at just above US$13/kg on overcapacity, notably due to US producers selling excess inventory as access to the China market had been severely curtailed due to new import duties applied as part of the trade war with the US.

High up the debt list is PV module assembly subcontractor and single-axis tracker supplier, via its NEXTracker acquisition, Flextronics International (Flex), which is owed over US$44 million.

Ever since the 1GW production plans were announced back in July, 2014 speculation has remained over the tool selection. Indeed, no conference or exhibition that PV Tech had attended since that time, did the subject of tool selection not arise with industry people.

First Solar is introducing new production lines to manufacture its 400W large-area ‘Series 6’ modules.

Leading CdTe thin-film module producer First Solar is shifting it business emphasis back to module sales after becoming a leading PV project developer as part of a mid-term business plan that takes advantage of its restored cost-per-watt advantage and two new module products that will be introduced in the coming years that are intended to further its competitive position. We analyze the key metrics behind the transition, such as R&D expenditure, module conversion efficiencies and production capabilities and cost reductions.

R&D activities related to solar cell production technology generally aim for higher cell efficiencies and lower production costs in order to decrease the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Today the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) is poised to become the preferred state-of-the-art cell architecture. ‘FolMet’ technology – a new metallization and contacting upgrade – therefore has particular relevance to PERC gains.

Solar photovoltaic manufacturing is benefiting today from increased allocations by leading producers for capex into new facilities and technologies. Capturing these trends in March 2016, the PVCellTech conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hosted by Photovoltaics International’s publisher, Solar Media, provided a fascinating insight into what can be expected during the second half of 2016. Leading the drive to higher cell efficiencies and panel powers are efforts to increase the production of passivated emitter rear contact, or PERC, cells. This new trend can be seen to be driving the internal roadmaps of all silicon cell manufacturers, in addition to competing n-type and thin-film providers.

High-efficiency silicon solar cells require silicon wafers of high electrical quality as the base material. One advantage of n-type compared with p-type doped silicon is the smaller impact of many metal impurities on the electrical material quality. This applies especially to n-type multicrystalline silicon ingots produced by the directional solidification process, with dissolved metal impurities typically introduced by the crucible system.