China

German energy agency Dena has found China’s smelter fleet could shift 432.5 GWh of daily demand to more amenable hours to tally with renewables generation. To make it happen though, the regulator needs to lay down rules for providing incentives.

Having stated an intent to hit 65 GW of annual mono wafer production capacity by the end of 2021, the Chinese solar manufacturing giant has now said that landmark will be achieved next year.

Inline solar cell measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies (AST) has won its largest single order to date from a major China-based manufacturer of high-efficiency PERC solar cells.

The Hong Kong manufacturer is holding out hope a boom that is expected to start imminently will help it turnaround losses that forced it to issue a profit warning last week. Getting its new production line in Qujing up to speed will help, provided the demand materializes.

The embattled solar manufacturer – which is facing a winding-up petition lodged by Deutsche Bank Hong Kong – says it failed to publish the six-month update by the weekend because of a delay in producing its annual results for last year.

Leading monocrystalline wafer producer and ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Green Energy Technology (LONGi Group) has reported second quarter 2019 revenue of approximately US$1.17 billion, a new quarterly record, due to monocrystalline wafer shipments increasing by 183% in the first half of 2019, compared to the prior year period.

The SMSL reported second-quarter PV module shipments of 3,386MW, an increase of 11.5% from 3,037MW in the first quarter of 2019 and an increase of 21.2% from 2,794MW in the second quarter of 2018.

The Shanghai-based solar manufacturer has maintained gross margin in a depressed domestic market by shipping ever more modules around the world and is pressing ahead with dramatic production plans on the eve of a looming solar boom.

The Chinese company is ramping up R&D efforts to try and fast-track commercialization of the more productive – and more expensive – battery tech. The news was announced as part of an uninspiring first-half update thanks to falling lithium salt prices.

New analysis predicts more than 150 GW of tracker capacity will be installed in the next five years – around a third of all ground mount projects up to 2024. Rapid growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and the better cost structures possible from combining trackers and bifacial modules are singled out as key trends.

A spokeswoman from the Chinese manufacturer of the Swan series of double-sided solar panels says monofacial modules will soon be consigned to residential use as the price gap between them and higher-yielding bifacial products rapidly closes.

The Chinese giant has argued its 166mm M6 product should be the new iteration used worldwide, even though larger products have been launched by rivals. Longi says the fact existing cell and module production lines can be adapted for the M6 means rising demand for solar worldwide can be swiftly satisfied.

The solar manufacturer today moved to reassure investors ahead of what promises to be another rocky set of first-half figures in two days’ time. The Hong Kong company says it wants to add another 3.6 GW of mono ingot and wafer capacity by early 2021.

The two nations are due to sign an MoU today to set up the capacity in the north of Bangladesh along with 50 MW of wind power facilities in the south, near the port of Payra. China will supply an estimated $500m with the host nation freeing up land for the projects.

Looking back at the PV market in 2018, micro module technologies started maturing in development and moving on to mass production, writes TrendForce analyst Lions Shih. Modules are no longer limited to a single design as before, but rather continuing on the path toward diversification in 2019. The situation is spreading into other areas, as may be seen in the upstream silicon wafer and cell segments.