Trina’s Vertex Module With 515.8 W Verified

Vertically integrated module manufacturer Trina Solar announced that its Vertex module has attained a high output power rating of 515.8 W in an independent evaluation by TÜV Rheinland. The testing institution has tested the product according to the IEC 61215 PV module performance standard and the IEC 61730 PV module safety standard.

Building high output power modules using large wafer formats is one hot topic in PV manufacturing and Trina has been on the forefront in embracing the approach. It is one of the early adopters among cell/module manufacturers using the largest wafer size available so far. The Vertex module series of the Chinese company is based on M12 (210 mm side length) wafers – and the commercial modules have a power rating of above 500 W. In addition to using the larger wafer formats, the module also features several other advanced module concepts such as multi busbar, 1/3 cells (cutting cells into three pieces instead of two as in half cell design) employing on non-destructive cutting method, according to Yin Rongfang, Vice General Manager and EVP at Trina Solar  

Chris Zou, Vice President of Solar Services at TÜV Rheinland Greater China, said, “Since Trina Solar began developing ultra-high power modules, TÜV Rheinland has participated in the discussion and shared its own experience in terms of product safety and reliability. Trina Solar’s Vertex module has passed the comprehensive and rigorous test by TÜV Rheinland with industry-leading output reaching 515.8W.” 

While it is already a very high wattage dimension what Trina has attained in terms of output power with Vertex series so far, it already has plans to take its modules to the next level. With development and improvement of the supply chain, especially the improvement in glass supply capacity, adding one more column of cells to the existing five-column layout design can increase the Vertex module’s power output to more than 600 W, according to Yin.  

While high power modules such as Vertex based on larger wafers may not represent a real improvement in module efficiency, which does not change compared to smaller products, but the approach reduces the balance of system (BOS) costs and the LCOE of solar systems quite substantially. In a TaiyangNews webinar discussing large wafer sizes, the world’s largest wafer manufacturer LONGi, which pushes the M6 (166 mm side length) format, showed that the move from M2 (156 mm side length) to M6 reduces BOS by 6.3% and LCOE by 2.9%. (see Larger Wafer Based Solar Modules). As the industry strives for larger wafer sizes, LONGi has already announced a stop of its mass production of M2 wafer sizes in April 2020 (see LONGi Stops Mass Production Of M2 Wafer Size).

The independent confirmation of the high power Vertex modules by TÜV Rheinland is remarked as a “major breakthrough” by Trina.  After having introduced its Duomax V bifacial glass-glass and Tallmax V glass-backsheet solar modules in February 2020, Trina Solar announced in March it launched mass production of the two variants (see Mass Production For Trina Solar’s 500 W Modules)