China-based wind turbine manufacturer Mingyang Smart Energy wants to build a heterojunction module factory with a capacity of 5 GW. Both Longi and Tongwei have raised the prices of their wafers and cells, respectively.

Henan province immediately responded with a plan to deploy another 20 GW of solar and wind by 2025.

Based on the price agreed for the first year of the five-year contract, the total deal would be worth almost $4 billion to the $1 billion company. However, with input costs rising and the state-owned sponsor likely to expect to pay lower fees for subsequent years, the TOPCon manufacturer’s margins may not remain so fat.

The pursuit of higher conversion efficiencies is an eternal theme in the PV industry. Among all the links in the chain, cell technology is the most fundamental and decisive element. As we look beyond the established PERC technology, whether heterojunction or TOPCon will become the dominant “next-gen” solar cell among China’s manufacturing giants is emerging as a balancing act between incumbent and upstart, reports Vincent Shaw from Shanghai.

The Chint Group has also said it was China’s largest PV plant owner at the end of 2020 with more than 5.7 GW in operation.

The world’s number one solar manufacturer said the result has been confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany.

Polysilicon manufacturer Xinte Energy has signed a deal to supply 181,000 tons of poly to module manufacturer JA Solar from next April until December 2026. Anhui-based heterojunction module manufacturer Huasun announced this week that cells produced at its factory in Xuancheng City have achieved a maximum efficiency of 24.39%.

The National Energy Administration has ordered grid companies to supply enough network connection points for all the solar and wind projects registered in 2019 and 2020, and said variable renewables should be supplying 11% of the nation’s electricity by the end of the year.

Polysilicon prices rose to RMB145-150/kg this week, prompting a varied response from the major wafer suppliers. Longi won a tender to supply modules for a 100 MW agrivoltaic project held by Hubei Energy Group and GCL-Poly sold off a further 127 MW of solar project capacity to two state-owned enterprises.

JA Solar has agreed to buy 75,000 MT of polysilicon from Qinghai-based Asia Silicon (Qinghai) Co., Ltd., and Longi will buy 250 million square meters of PV glass from US-based Chinese manufacturer Deli Glass. Huantai Group commissioned another furnace at its 12 GW wafer factory in Inner Mongolia.