Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The Shanghai-based wafer, cell and module maker appears to be steering a steady course through a tumultuous period for the solar industry and its plans are another sign high-efficiency modules may soon have to do more to earn that label.

The Chinese manufacturer has embarked upon an upgrade of 1.5 GW of its module production lines which is set to be completed this year. Previously used to get around trade restrictions applied by the EU, the Thai facility will now produce output for the U.S. market.

The German battery manufacturer will make products for electric trucks and buses at the facility, which is expected to employ 200 workers and produce 400 megawatt-hours of batteries annually.

Australian and Indian scientists have developed a method of manufacturing soluble graphene in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way from one of Australia’s most common resources, gum trees.

Taiwanese analyst Energytrend saw prices for high power products fall over the past week, but so far only in China. That trend could be replicated around the world next week, however.

The polysilicon giant’s Jiangsu Zhongneng unit invested $196 million into a $487 million fund alongside public partners to promote clean energy manufacturing in the Chinese city. A stake sale in the Xinjiang GCL subsidiary, if approved by shareholders, will more than recoup the group’s outlay.

Bifacial modules are here to stay. But even as manufacturers commit further capacities to two-sided module production spanning a whole range of technologies, there are still challenges to overcome, to fulfill predictions that bifacial will represent almost 40% of all modules produced inside the next decade. Flash testing conducted at the end of cell and module production presents one of these, and there is plenty of debate among equipment suppliers as to how this manufacturing stage should treat bifacial cells and modules.

Analysts have observed rising demand amid rumors of stock shortages. Meanwhile, the price of mono cells fell further, although not far enough as far as the big beasts of the PERC module jungle are concerned.

The world’s number one mono silicon module manufacturer will add another 5 GW to its annual panel production capacity in 2020 as it pursues 16 GW of output this year and 25 GW next year.

Belgian research institute imec this week said it has set a performance record of 400 watt-hours per liter – at a charge rate of 0.5 – for a solid state lithium metal battery. The institute says it is working with the University of Hasselt to scale up production of solid state cells on a pilot line in Belgium.