L R AS Published on Sunday 30 August 2020 - n° 329 - Categories:brochures

A timetable for the adoption of the booklet format

The 166 mm wafer format is expected to become dominant in the first half of 2021. Thereafter, the format of

182 mm (M10) is expected to become a dominant feature as a result of the alliance between seven panel manufacturers (including Jinko, JA Solar, Canadian Solar and Longi), which was concluded on June 24, 2020. The move towards larger wafer sizes will continue. Wafer sizes of 182 mm and 210 mm (G12) will become increasingly commercially available. By 2022 they will account for more than half of the market, according to PV InfoLink.

At the moment, the bottleneck in the use of large wafers is the lack of furnaces to produce larger PV glass. This, as well as changing equipment to use larger wafers and produce larger panels, takes six to nine months.

A competitiveness gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 or 3 players has grown as the large manufacturers continue to increase the output power of the panels. PV InfoLink forecasts that the top ten module manufacturers will have more than 80% market share this year (up from 60-70% in recent years).

A distinction is expected to emerge in the market: the 166 mm (M6) wafer format will be reserved for the residential market, while the 182 mm (M10) and 210 mm (M12) wafers will be installed in large power plants.

https://www.infolink-group.com/en/solar/analysis-trends/Large-wafers-A-stepping-stone-to-600-W-plus-modules

PV InfoLink of 21 August

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