Jinko

The U.S. project developer and Chinese manufacturing giant have both moved to extend borrowing for Japanese operations as Sumitomo Mitsui has given another lift to its domestic PV market.

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 revealed it had supplied the modules to one of the largest PV facilities in the APAC region outside its homeland.

While lacking the swarming crowds of previous years, the 2019 SNEC in Shanghai remained a focal point of the global PV industry when it comes to industrial solar cell and module manufacturing and technology. Here are five hot technology takeaways from the pv magazine team on the show floor and conference sessions.

The new manufacturing facility will be located in Leshan, in China’s Sichuan province and will produce monocrystalline wafers. It will raise the group’s wafer capacity to around 11.5 GW. Meanwhile, large supply deals are said to have come from markets including Vietnam, Mexico and Spain.

The ITC will look at cells made by LONGi, JinkoSolar and REC Group, based on claims by Hanwha Q Cells that the companies have infringed on its PERC technology.

The South Korean solar module maker has filed another claim with the Federal Court of Australia against Norwegian solar manufacturer REC Group, as well as PV distributors BayWa r.e. Solar Systems and Sol Distribution, for distributing products that allegedly infringe on its patents.

The Chinese monocrystalline module maker said it had not been notified of the legal action by its Korean rival. Longi claimed there is considerable uncertainty over the validity of the patents at the root of the lawsuits, which the Chinese defendant says relate to ALD technology. Longi says it uses PECVD technology for cell production.

The Chinese module maker “categorically refutes” allegations made by its rival that it is using Hanwha’s passivation technology on its solar cells. Jinko added, it does not expect any disruption to normal operations as a result of the lawsuit.

JinkoSolar is ramping the third-largest module factory in the United States, as part of a resurgence in U.S. module manufacturing.