Solar wafer

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.

CubicPV says it plans to establish 10 GW of conventional mono wafer manufacturing capacity in the United States, driven by incentives in the US Inflation Reduction Act. The wafers could fill a void in the domestic supply chain and create 1,500 new direct jobs.

Longi and TCL Zhonghuan have announced wafer price cuts, Arctech Solar said it will supply 2.8 GW of single-axis trackers for solar projects in India, and Risen Energy has started mass production of its heterojunction (HJT) solar modules.

TBEA-owned Xinte Energy says it cannot produce polysilicon quickly enough to meet demand and wants shareholders to back its bid to quadruple its manufacturing capacity by mid 2024.

Footwear producer Golden Solar announced it would enter the solar market last year, with a focus on heterojunction devices.

Manufacturers Longi and Zhonghuan Semiconductor have both raised the price of their 182mm wafers while holding the cost of their other products as rival Shuangliang Eco-energy signed deals for more wafer production equipment.

Innovative solar wafer company Nexwafe has closed its latest financing round with €32 million. The round was lead by the Indian group Reliance, which contributed €25 million to the round. The Freiburg-based wafer manufacturer intends to use the funds to drive forward the production and commercialization of its kerfless PV wafers.

The innovative wafer maker will be building its first commercial-scale factory overseas.

The firm is considering concentrating all of its German cell production capacity at Arnstadt, shifting volume from Freiberg where wafer production is poised to be scaled up.