China produced 53.3 GW PV modules in H1/2020: The China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) says during H1/2020, the country produced 53.3 GW of solar module capacity, which means an increase by 13.4% over the same period in the previous year. Solar cell production of 59 GW during the period was 15.7% more than in H1/2019 while total silicon wafers and polysilicon produced increased 19% and 32.3% to 75 GW and 205,000 metric tons (MT), respectively. Reviewing the market in an online seminar on July 22, 2020, CPIA presented these numbers to show growth of the market despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first 6 months of 2020, China also improved its annual solar installed capacity by 0.9% to 11.5 GW with the month of June 2020 alone adding 4.99 GW, after May 2020 additions were only 1.43 GW, CPIA said when sharing this unofficial data.
If CPIA data is bang on, China should have installed over 7 GW of new PV capacity in Q2/2020 as the National Energy Administration (NEA) earlier said the country added 3.95 GW of new solar PV capacity in Q1/2020 (see China Installed 3.95 GW New Solar In Q1/2020).
CPIA expects China to exit 2020 with 40 GW to 43 GW of newly annual installed solar PV capacity, expecting H2/2020 to add close to 30 GW with the help of subsidy bidding projects announcing winners. In June 2020, CPIA had lowered its full year 2020 global solar PV forecast to between 110 GW to 135 GW factoring in the negative impacts of COVID-19; for China, its estimate was between 32 GW to 45 GW (see CPIA Expects 32 GW To 45 GW Solar In 2020 For China).
Talesun & Jolywood announce cooperation: Talesun Solar and Jolywood have both announced a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly research and develop transparent backsheet technology and applications. Under the cooperation, both Chinese companies plan to explore development of bifacial modules with transparent backsheet to target both domestic and international markets. "The purpose of this strategic cooperation is to going further, deepen the interaction and cooperation between the two parties' supply chain, technology research and development, market promotion, and terminal applications, and jointly promote the transparent backplane component market to bring value to customers," said Talesun Solar President Sheng Hao.
Chint Solar starts work on 10 GW solar cell & module fab: Chint Solar has started construction on its 5 GW high efficiency solar cell and 5 GW high efficiency module facility in Yancheng region of Jiangsu province. Under phase I, it expects to bring online 1.8 GW of solar cell and 2.2 GW of module capacity. On completion of these projects, the management expects to earn annual sales of over RMB 3 billion. Once the entire 10 GW is commissioned, it sees annual sales of RMB 8 billion from this capacity, as per a report published by Polaris Power Network.
Several big manufacturers from the Chinese PV industry will present their latest module innovations and participate in an Executive Panel at the 500 W+ Solar Module Virtual Conference of TaiyangNews on July 29 & July 30, 2020. Registration to the virtual conference is for free here.