China Solar PV News Snippets

2 Uzbekistan solar power plants with Trina's Vanguard 1P grid connected; Aiko to convert PERC cell fab to TOPCon; Jinchen Corp establishes US subsidiary; Tongwei rolls out 1^st cell from transformed Jintang base; Yingli Solar's n-type modules get CRE certification.

1^st Phase of Uzbekistan power plants with Trina's Vanguard 1P trackers grid-connected: TrinaTracker, the solar tracker making arm of Trina Solar, has announced that the initial units of 2 solar power plants in Uzbekistan were recently connected to the grid. Located in Samarkand and Jizzakh, the 2 plants have a combined installed capacity of 511 MW. Having signed the contract in April 2023, TrinaTracker has exclusively supplied 11,248 sets of Vanguard 1P trackers to these plants, along with the Trina Smart Cloud digital SCADA platform at tracker level. Once fully operational, the project will generate 1.12 billion kWh a year, enough to power 240,000 homes and reduce 1 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Last month, TrinaTracker signed a supply agreement with China Energy Construction Group to supply 200 MW of Vanguard 2P trackers and supporting software (see China Solar PV News Snippets).

Aiko Solar to convert 25 GW PERC cell production line to TOPCon: Solar cell manufacturer Aiko Solar has announced its plans to upgrade its Yiwu manufacturing base from PERC cells to TOPCon. It plans to invest about RMB 2.715 billion ($377 million) to upgrade its existing 25 GW PERC cell capacity. It will utilize the existing plant as the production workshop, adding new process production equipment on top of the old ones and upgrading the auxiliary equipment and facilities. Scheduled to start in April 2024, the company plans phased production rollouts of the upgraded facility in H2 2024.

Last month, Aiko Solar announced a TÜV SÜD certified 25.15% efficiency for its ABC solar modules (see Aiko Solar Announces New World Record Efficiency).

Jinchen Corp establishes US subsidiary: Solar equipment supplier Jinchen Corp has announced the establishment of Jinchen Machinery USA Inc. in Ohio, USA, obtaining registration and equity certificates. Following the announcement in January 2024, Jinchen Corp plans to invest $2 million (RMB 14.38 million) in cash to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US. Additionally, it plans to invest with Vikas Singh and Pon Ramesh in India to establish a holding subsidiary, Jinchen (India) Pvt Ltd, with a registered capital of $1 million (RMB 7.19 million), where Jinchen holds a 98% stake.

Tongwei rolls out 1^st cell from transformed Jintang Base: Integrated solar manufacturer Tongwei Solar has announced the completion of the 1^st TOPCon technical transformation and production project. The Jintang Phase II TOPCon fab has rolled out the 1^st cell from the transformed facility. It says that the transformation took only 40 days from the suspension of production to the production of the 1^st cell.

Earlier this month, Tongwei signed a 700 MW module supply deal with Genertec Italia SRL (see China Solar PV News Snippets).

Yingli Solar's n-type modules receive French Carbon Footprint certification: Solar cell and module manufacturer Yingli Solar has announced that its Panda n-type modules have received the CRE4 and PPE2 certification from the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). The company says that the Carbon Footprint Certification is the most authoritative certification required for PV projects of 100 kWp or above to enter the French market. The modules feature a carbon footprint value of 396 kg CO₂/kWp.