JinkoSolar

Lawyers are doing brisk business as tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar technology moves into the mainstream. A series of patent infringement cases have been launched in the United States and Europe and their impacts are reverberating through the marketplace. How likely is it that winners will emerge?

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the nation’s cumulative installed solar capacity reached 750 GW in August, on 139.99 GW of new capacity additions in the first eight months of 2024.

JinkoSolar has begun converting its production to n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) products to stay competitive, says Frank Niendorf, the company’s general manager for Europe. He predicts that several market players in the value chain will exit the market soon.

Though it already hosts several of the world’s largest PV installations, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s solar industry is still young, with limited local infrastructure and expertise. Project developers are learning quickly that building PV in harsh desert environments requires a careful eye on quality. New testing laboratories are looking to meet demand.

JinkoSolar says its 182 mm tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar module has achieved a conversion efficiency of 25.42%.

JinkoSolar says its exclusion from BloombergNEF’s second-quarter list of tier-1 solar module manufacturers was due to a civil case involving a subsidiary, rather than financial issues.

Energy storage is the new solar for an increasing number of Chinese PV manufacturers. However, China still requires enabling policies for storage to provide the end-market volumes needed to bolster the fortunes of manufacturers old and new.

JinkoSolar says it expects a 2023 net profit ranging between CNY 7.25 billion ($1.02 billion) and CNY 7.95 billion, while Arctech Solar says it anticipates a full-year net profit of CNY 354 million.

More than 200 entries from across 39 countries made up the field for the pv magazine Awards 2023 and there was genuine innovation on display in all categories. Significant demands have been placed on the solar and energy storage industries in 2023, but that hasn’t stopped the sector from making great leaps in performance. The winners of the pv magazine Awards 2023 serve as shining examples of what can be achieved through a continuous improvement philosophy.

China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, pv magazine looks back at key highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.