Lowering Manufacturing Costs Through Wet Chemical Processing

Key takeaways:

• RENA Technologies showcased wet processing solutions for TOPCon, BC, HJT, and perovskite cell manufacturing at Intersolar Europe 2026

• The company's process technologies target lower water consumption, H₂O₂-free chemistry, and reduced production cost

• The portfolio includes inline and batch platforms supporting key wet chemical processing steps from texturing to polysilicon wraparound removal

The first steps in a PV cell production line involve wet-chemistry processes, including wafer cleaning, texturing, etching, polishing, and dopant glass removal. These processes consume large amounts of water and chemicals, which can increase manufacturing costs. Process equipment manufacturers offer solutions that can reduce the costs of these processes while also reducing their environmental impacts.

At Intersolar Europe 2026, RENA Technologies showcased its wet-processing solutions for industrial manufacturing of current mainstream and high-efficiency technologies: TOPCon, back-contact (BC), heterojunction (HJT), and perovskite cells. The company focused on process technologies to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce resource consumption.

RENA highlighted its long-term objective of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) manufacturing, where the water used is recycled through closed-loop systems to minimize wastewater generation and freshwater consumption. The company presented solutions that it claims are designed to reduce monthly OpEx by over 50% through lower water consumption, reduced wastewater generation, and H2O2-free process chemistry.

These process technologies are employed across its product portfolio, which includes both inline and batch platforms. Its current offerings include BatchTex, InEtchSide, InOxSide, and BatchPolyClean, among others. The equipment supports steps such as texturing, dopant glass removal, edge isolation, polishing, and polysilicon wraparound removal. For example, the BatchTex N600 platform is used for alkaline texturing with a throughput of 15,000 wafers per hour. For selected TOPCon wet chemistry, RENA also combines inline and batch equipment into clustered process configurations to optimize throughput and process flow for GW-scale manufacturing.

In an era dominated by high-efficiency cell architectures and rising manufacturing capacity, RENA’s product showcase underscored the importance of process optimization, lower manufacturing costs, and greater production efficiency.