L R AS Published on Sunday 10 February 2019 - n° 263 - Categories:panels, cells, China
Emergence in 2018, special panels
High-performance panel technologies (half cells, shingles, mono-PERC, etc.) were developed in 2018. PERC + SE technology became a standard in 2019 for monocrystalline production lines, increasing conversion efficiency by 0.2%.
By early 2018, only Canadian Solar was producing panels with half-cut cells. Thereafter,
Other manufacturers (JinkoSolar, Trina Solar, DZS Solar and Suntech) have offered a variety of products: half-cut panels, single-PERC cells with half-cut technology, multi-crystalline half-cut cells, cells placed in shingles (offered by DZS Solar and Seraphim).
The shingle technology is mainly used in production lines for high efficiency mono-PERC cells. Compared to half-cut technology, shingle technology increases the output power of the panels by 1-2% and widens the power gap in watts with conventional modules. The current efficiency of the PERC single-shingle panel is 385-395 W for 72-cell panels and 310-320 W for 60-cell panels. However, the maturity and efficiency of the shingled panel is not as high as that of the half-cut. Shingled board accounts for about 10% of total monthly exports of specialty board.
China's exports of these special panels increased significantly from a monthly amount of about 100 MW in early 2018 to 400 MW in October and November 2018. The monthly share of special panels in total exports increased from 2-5% in early 2018 to 10% of the total in October and November. At the beginning of 2018, only a few markets (Australia, Brazil, etc.) were accepting these new products. The number of markets grew slowly, expanding into Japan, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
The production capacity of half-cutting will increase by 20 GW in 2019. It will account for 15% of global panel delivery, becoming one of the consumer products.
SunPower and DZS Solar were still the leading suppliers of shingle panels in 2018. Shingle technology has yet to mature and there are no foreign patent issues. For this reason, these products are reserved for China: shingle panel shipments to China will increase from 900 MW in 2018 to 3.5 GW in 2019.
https://en.pvinfolink.com/post-view.php?ID=143
PV InfoLink of 30 January
Editor's note These special panels give the impression that we are at the end of a technological evolution of crystalline silicon and that we are unable to move to a new stage. So we're fiddling around, arranging the cells, trying out different positions. This doesn't make a new technology, but the manufacturers are satisfied to bring a slight improvement in the conversion rate.
Without wanting to predict the future, the two technologies that seem to be promising are those of thin layers and perovskite. The first has been rediscovered, the second is emerging with its technical difficulties. It is necessary to manage to make a leap in the conversion rate.
