As the global solar PV industry gets ready for the 15th edition of the world's largest solar show, SNEC 2021 due to be held in June 2021 in Shanghai, where some of the leading module manufacturers will present their latest products, TaiyangNews brought together these companies to present a sneak-peak into their latest products for a 2-day virtual conference on Very High-Power Solar Modules.
Day 1 of the conference saw the Head of Technology for TaiyangNews, Shravan Chunduri pre-launching our new report on the same subject of Very High-Power Solar Modules. He explained that the report will discuss developments associated with very high-power solar modules along with 3 parts of the process chain—wafers, cells and modules. While using larger wafer to attain higher power modules has more or less become a standard, even smaller modules are now increasingly using larger wafers to make them suitable for applications such as rooftops to utilize their benefits. The report will also provide an overview of the products promoted by leading companies. Full report will be officially published and distributed during SNEC 2021.
The Director PV Equipment with VDMA, Dr. Jutta Trube presented the latest development in PV modules from the International Technology Roadmap (ITRPV) 2021. She pointed out the dominant preference for PERC that remains the 'PV workhorse' despite significant changes in module concepts and sizes in the global manufacturing over the past few years. The report sees large format modules to claim larger share going forward as previously popular sizes of 156.75mm and 158.75 mm move out in the near future (see Big Size Is The Big Trend).
Presenting quality aspects of very high-power modules during the conference was Global Segment Coordinator—PV Power Plants at TUV Rheinland, Jorg Althaus who discussed impact factors of high-power modules in his presentation focusing on module and component design, reliability and process stages. According to Althaus, while high-power modules with larger sizes do present significant opportunities for growth and innovation, these may be susceptible to thermo-mechanical stresses which need to be checked. He stressed on more test experience for these modules to prove quality and long-term reliability, particularly those that simulate thermomechanical fatigue since those could be critical to assess reliability.
Senior Product Marketing Manager of LONGi Solar, Jason Yan presented analysis on the value of very high-power modules based on LCOE, starting with the motivation behind promoting a high-power solar module, ranging from reducing LCOE, BOS, module cost while ensuring stability of energy yield. For a new product to be revealed during SNEC 2021, Yan said his company will introduce a 22% efficient PV module product, but did not reveal if this will be based on N-type. Focus will also be on higher module efficiency, higher bifaciality and lower degradation performance.
JA Solar's Technical Sales Manager Andrew Zhang batted for 182mm (M10 format) solar modules since it is compatible with current industry processes in the supply chain while presenting the company's DeepBlue 3.0 technology. One of the products the company will launch during SNEC 2021 will be in its DeepBlue 3.0 range with 78-cell configuration. It will also reveal 2 new products during the show which will be integrating N-type.
Astronergy Chint's Product Manager Aj Hu introduced the company's new generation of high efficiency residential modules, a product with up to 415 W called Astro 5s. She explained the reasons behind JA opting for 182mm configuration for this product. The reasons range between perfect design dimension, high module efficiency, mature technology, and reasonable circuit design. Among factors that stopped it from adopting 210mm size, the company cited limited inverter adaptation, weight and size requirements, more cell slicing steps, and complicated circuit design.
JinkoSolar's Product Manager Leo Cong presented the company's new Tiger Pro 610W module calling it the perfect combination of innovative HOT2.0 technology and high power. This N-type cell based product comes with a 22.3% efficiency and will be on display during SNEC 2021, along with other new products for the distributed generation (DG) market, as well as building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and, as Cong said, a 'big surprise'. Initially, Jinko has over 800 MW capacity for its new N-type products.
On Day 1 of the conference, TaiyangNews Managing Director Michael Schmela discussed the subject of very high-power solar modules and the future developments in the space with the executive panel comprising LONGi Solar's Director of Product Marketing Hongbin Fang, and JA Solar's Senior Manager, EU Product Management Michele Citro. Both the panelists agreed that at SNEC 2021, their message will be on reliability and energy yield improvement of modules. While larger power modules were a theme of last year, the topic is now much more on 'sustainable' interaction with the rest of the industry chain – and increasing cell technology, although they believe that there is still some development potential left for PERC-based modules.
If any of our readers want to get in touch with the presenters, they can directly contact the companies on these email IDs: marketing@longi.com, marketing@jasolar.com, marketing.team@astronergy.com, and mingjie.shen@jinkosolar.com.
TaiyangNews conference will continue on Day 2, when globally leading PV panel manufacturers Trina Solar, Risen Energy, Jolywood will talk about their technology updates to be shown at SNEC . We also have leading inverter manufacturers Ginlong Solis and Sineng to discuss how the solar sector's entire value chain has been impacted by increasing wafer formats, larger and much more powerful PV panels. And we will have an exclusive fire chat with Trina Solar's Head of Global Product Strategy and Market, Franck Zhang. The Agenda for Day 2 is available on our website. There is still time to register free for Day 2 here.