Schmid books 110 MW order for its Geminus bifacial line

Share

While PV equipment sales remain only a fraction on the boom years of 2008 to 2010, orders for new technologies are coming in. The latest is Schmid’s Geminus bifacial turnkey line, to a Mexican module producer. The 110 MW in equipment will be for bifaical cell and module production and will employ Schmid’s multi busbar solution.

Today’s announcement from Schmid indicates that both multi and monocrystalline wafers can be utilized in the Geminus production tools.

ERDM has been producing PV modules in San Andrés Tuxtla, Mexico, since 2007. ERDM Solar indicates that it will use the bifacial modules produced on the Geminus line for both domestic and international markets.

The Geminus sale is a particular highlight for Schmid as it unveiled its bifacial line only three months ago, at the EU PVSEC trade show in Amsterdam, in September 2014.

“According to ERDM the investment decision has been made due to the observation that the market has changed from a buyer‘s to a seller's market for non-Chinese and Taiwanese high end solar products,” said Schmid president and CEO Christian Schmid. “Hence it is exactly the right timing for the upstream integration.”

In light of tariffs on Chinese and Taiwanese solar products imported in the U.S., analysts report that Mexico is promising destination for firms looking to establish manufacturing outside of these countries.

While there is no standard flashing protocol for measuring the efficiency of bifacial modules, Schmid says that modules from the Geminus line can result in 30% higher yields. Yields will depend on the albedo, or reflection coefficient, which varies between different surfaces under a module. White roofs, fresh snow or seashells all result in a high albedo.

Schmid claims that multicrystalline bifacial modules can roll off the Geminus line with an efficiency equivalent of 18% and at a BoS cost advantage of US$0.07 to $0.10/Wp, when compared to standard monofacial multi modules.

Mexico’s solar industry

Mexico is currently the country with the most solar module manufacturing capacity in Latin America. Most of the production is for export.

As an end market, Mexico currently has a cumulative installed PV generating capacity of around 150 MW. The Mexican Energy Regulator has approved about 2.5 GW of solar projects. There are currently no import taxes placed on modules in Mexico but this could change, according to Mexican solar association ANES – alongside wider taxation reforms.

Additional reporting from Blanca Diaz Lopez.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Waaree unveils 730 W dual-glass heterojunction solar module

07 October 2024 Waaree has showcased an n-type dual-glass photovoltaic panel with a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.5%.

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.

This website uses cookies to anonymously count visitor numbers. View our privacy policy.

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close