ReneSola Ltd today announced that it began shipments of its Virtus wafers and modules in June, shipping an aggregate total of approximately 54.8 megawatts (MW) of Virtus wafers and 20 MW of Virtus modules, which are manufactured using Virtus wafers, to a number of the Company's top customers in Europe. Virtus wafer production is now operating at an annual capacity of 900 MW with a target to reach 1.8 gigawatts ("GW") by the end of 2011.
The Virtus wafer was introduced in January 2011 and is regarded as one of the most efficient wafers in the industry. The Company offers a higher grade V-Grade Virtus wafer, which achieves cell conversion efficiency rates of 17.5 percent to 18.2 percent, as well as a lower grade M-Grade Virtus wafer, which achieves cell conversion efficiency rates of 16.7 percent to 17.0 percent. These high rates of efficiency are established at the wafer level prior to the cell manufacturing process, which can further increase the efficiency rate. ReneSola's Virtus modules can generate up to 250 watts (W) of power.
The 54.8 MW of Virtus wafer shipments comprised approximately 22.7 MW of V-Grade Virtus wafers and 32.1 MW of M-Grade Virtus wafers, while the 20 MW of Virtus Module shipments fully comprised of V-Grade Virtus wafers.
ReneSola is currently in the process of applying for 10 patents related to the Virtus wafer and module, and is also applying for trademark protection in several countries.
Xianshou Li, ReneSola's chief executive officer, commented: "The dedicated work of our sales and manufacturing teams has allowed us to lead the industry as the first solar company to mass produce this advanced multicrystalline wafer technology. The Virtus wafer's high conversion efficiency and relatively low cost has attracted a wealth of interest among cell manufacturing companies. Our V-Grade Virtus wafer, which achieves a conversion efficiency rate more than one percent higher than the industry standard, has proved a worthy substitute for monocrystalline wafers with its low cost, while our M-Grade Virtus wafer's conversion efficiency is superior to the average multicrystalline wafer by up to 0.5 percent."
Li continued: "We've started initial shipments to our top European customers, some of whom have already requested additional shipments, and we have received excellent feedback. As we continue to experience strong demand from customers, we plan to purchase additional manufacturing equipment to increase our Virtus wafer capacity towards 1.8 GW by the end of 2011, at which time we expect the Virtus wafer to have replaced all our other multicrystalline wafers. We will also discontinue approximately 200 MW of monocrystalline wafer production, increasing our focus on multicrystalline wafers and boosting our core wafer business and growing module business."
