DMEGC’s Way To Sustainability

DMEGC is part of one of the larger privately owned Chinese conglomerates, Hengdian Group, and solar is a subsection of the company. René Schüler, head of product marketing, Europe at DMEGC presented the company’s latest n-type TOPCon products for the mainstream residential, C&I and utility application as well as specialty products for greenhouses during the TaiyangNews conference (see presentation here). Since DMEGC took part in our conference for the first time, Schüler provided some background on the company. Since its inception in 2009, the company has shipped 29 GW, split into 17 GW of cells and 12 GW of modules. DMEGC, with its entire manufacturing stationed in China, mainly focuses on the European market that accounts for 70% of its shipment, claiming a 30% market share in the continent for more than a decade.

The company is currently expanding its production capacity for n-type TOPCon cells. The first phase of the expansion is nearing completion and will add 6 GW of capacity. The second phase is already finished and will add an additional 6 GW. By the end of 2023, DMEGC will have a total of 14 GW of cell capacity and 12 GW of module capacity, and plans to further increase to 20 GW and 19 GW, respectively, in 2024. DMEGC’s production facility in the Sichuan province runs on 80% renewable energy, with plans to make it 100% renewable by the end of 2024. The company will continue its ingot and wafer production with smaller wafer formats of G1 and M6 to support the repowering projects. DMEGC also takes traceability seriously and tracks its products right from solar module up to polysilicon, covering all parts of the value chain in between.

The company is also establishing the same for its supply chain. Also, DMEGC is one of the few in the solar industry to be SA 8000 certified, according to Schüler. Talking about products, Schüler says that DMEGC decided to continue with the half-cell M10 wafer format because there are still a lot of customers who require those formats. The other features of the module products are SMBB, loss-less wafer cutting and bifacial, which are pretty standard these days. These modules have an average efficiency of 22.45%. To further ensure the field reliability of the module, every new product of the company must qualify for at least 2 to 3 times of the IEC testing protocol, according to Schüler. All the products go through full scenario reliability tests that include 9 testing procedures. The company has started extended environmental stress tests under IEC TS 63209 in cooperation with TÜV Rheinland. It is well known that TOPCon cells are more sensitive to humidity; however, Schüler showed the test results that DMEGC products can withstand 2 times the standard conditions for damp heat test and 3 times of IEC’s. Based on the internal and external test results, DMEGC is offering a 25-year product warranty and 30-year linear performance warranty with 0.4% annual degradation.

DMEGC’s products include 54-cell modules for residential applications with white background and fully black modules, the latter being a particularly strong area for the company and is highlighted accordingly. This module combines the superior aesthetics and the technical advancements of the TOPCon technology with rated power of 425 W and 21.7% efficiency. The module with white background that can still be opted with a standard or a black frame has a power rating range from 415 W to 430 W. The company also offers larger modules with 72 and 78 cells, with 580 W and 625 W peak power, respectively. While these modules are based on the double-glass configuration, DMEGC is also seeing demand for the glass-backsheet configuration. Thus, the company also offers the above 4 models in their glass-backsheet variants with exactly the same electrical properties and dimensions.

In addition to its standard modules, DMEGC also offers 2 module products exclusively for greenhouses, and the company is famous for its Greenhouse product range, especially in the Netherlands, according to Schüler. These modules, consisting of 4 strings and holding empty space in between, facilitate better growing conditions for the plants and reduce water consumption. Another member of the Greenhouse product range comes with a Y-frame with 12 mm height, which perfectly fits into the roof of greenhouses with a 4 m size. This module has a power rating of 530 W.

The text is an excerpt from TaiyangNews New Solar Products Overview H1/2023, which can be downloaded for free here.