210mm wafer

State-owned China Xinhua Power Development has booked a $53 million discount on seven solar farms as developer Kongsun seeks to pay down debts, and Canadian Solar has landed a 45 MWh energy storage contract in Colombia.

In a white paper, the three Chinese module manufacturers have reiterated the well-known refrain “bigger is not always better.” Experts from the three companies compared the BoS costs of 182mm-wafer-based modules and 210mm products, and found that the former have a slight advantage in racking, foundation, and land costs.

A technology-focused event held by the Africa Solar Industry Association has heard development pipelines across the continent are swiftly changing to accommodate double-sided PV panels, and that’s good news for solar tracker providers too.

Energy consultancy DNV GL has published new results comparing the performance of modules based on 166mm, 182mm and 210mm silicon cells. The assessment compares Trina Solar’s Vertex modules, which use the largest cell dimension, with unnamed competitors utilizing the other two sizes. Results from system simulations show a clear advantage for the two larger sizes, with 210mm edging ahead in terms of levelized cost of electricity.

The Chinese giant now has plans in place to hit more than 50 GW of panel capacity – and 26 GW of cell lines – next year.

Power company Datang Group is reportedly planning to spend around $148 million replacing a coal-fired power plant with a 200 MW solar project in Shanxi province and two solar players are set to issue stock.

The Chinese giant has leapt ahead of rivals who recently announced their intent to work towards the next generation of mega panels by pledging to have its 600 W Vertex product on sale by the end of March.

The Duomax V and Tallmax V panels are equipped with glass-glass and glass-backsheet frames, respectively. Both offer a reported 21% efficiency and orders will be taken from the second quarter on. Trina plans to have a combined 5 GW of annual production capacity for the products this year.