longi

The world’s number one solar manufacturer said the result has been confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany.

The two new products will be part of the Hi-MO4m panel series for rooftop applications. Their efficiency ranges from 19.2% to 21.2%.

With production capacity expanded for solar wafers, cells and modules last year, and set to rise again in 2021, the giant is targeting shipments of 40 GW of panels this time around.

An ‘explosive’, ‘booming’ global solar market in the second half of a Covid-hit 2020 saw the previous glass manufacturing overcapacity reversed, as float and auto glass producers bent all their efforts on making material for PV modules.

Monocrystalline module manufacturer Longi is venturing into new territory but missed out to its rival on two big panel orders from a state-owned power company.

Enhanced module appearance and power output can be achieved by a smart cell interconnection technique Longi is employing in its Hi-MO5 module series. But as with all new technologies, there are potential pitfalls.

The TBEA-owned poly manufacturer has predicted further consolidation as it aims to ramp up output with another 100,000 tons of annual production capacity.

“Unprecedented” was a term widely used in 2020, as the world grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic. The same word can be similarly applied to the plans and investments in production capacity announced by Chinese PV manufacturers right across the supply chain. But what shape are these expansions taking and what is driving this renewed confidence? Vincent Shaw reports from Shanghai.

The Covid-19 pandemic helped ensure chemicals business OCI could not put its idled polysilicon lines in Gunsan back into use last year, as had been hoped, prompting another hefty assets impairment which weighed on the group even as it expects supply of the raw material to be kept tight by rising demand.

State-owned power company SPIC is all set to contribute to the figures after announcing it wants to add 15 GW of renewables capacity during 2021 and China Glass, fresh from rebuffing Xinyi Glass’ takeover offer, is on the hunt for more manufacturing facilities.