Yingli to be largest solar panel manufacturer in 2012

Final data for 2012 is not yet out, but for 2011 top solar module players are Suntech, First Solar, Yingli, Trina and Canadian Solar, in that order. According to Solarbuzz, the top 5 manufacturers in 2012 is expected to remain the same except that Yingli is tipped to be number one for the first time.

Yingli Green Energy, a Chinese solar manufacturer, has more than 20 subsidiaries and branch offices worldwide, including one in Singapore although none in Malaysia.

Poised for No.1 spot

World's largest panel manufacturer

Yingli expects 2012 panel shipments of more than 2.2GW, exceeding an earlier forecast of 2.1GW to 2.2GW. At that volume, Yingli expects to become the world’s largest panel maker. This feat would be at the expense of Suntech, the world number one for the past two consecutive years.

“According to public data to date, we believe Yingli has evolved into the largest PV module supplier” -  Miao Liansheng, Chairman and CEO of Yingli Green Energy in early January 2013.

Will it come to Malaysia?

Yingli distributes its PV modules to a wide range of markets, including Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, South Korea, China, Japan and the United States, with domestic sales contributing to its increased shipment.

European markets for Chinese solar panel have declined and the 'anti-dumping' duties imposed by the US on Chinese imports means that Yingli (and many other China-based manufacturers) will have to look for new markets.

Southeast Asia is one of these markets and you will not be too surprised if PV panels installed on your solar rooftop under SEDA Feed-in Tariff scheme are Yingly products.

I suppose with the reputation as top manufacturer, you will not be far from right choosing Yingli when you install your grid-connected solar power. I may still be wrong though, as many of the Approved Licensed Installers in Malaysia choose either US or German made modules.

Poorly made PV modules hurting Solar PV industry?

If you are producing, say, Chevrolet vehicles, do you accept a one-in-every-100 defective cars or 1% defect rate? I bet not.

Renewable Energy World (REW) stated in its recent article that from a factory checks carried out, solar panels defect rate stands at 8.8% on average. That is almost one in every ten panels!

The checks are done immediately after the panels roll out of the plants and the spread is from 5.5% to 22%.  That is a very bad and worrying defect trend. As if 5.5% isn't bad enough, it is amazing that some manufacturers continue to produce panels at 22% defect rate! How is that possible, and how is that profitable?

Image: french.alibaba.com

This is tarnishing the reputation of one of the most exciting and interesting sources of renewable energy - Solar Power.

REW reported the common source of failures which include:

1) The use of substandard materials for:

• metal contact lines,
• backsheets and encapsulants for protecting panel from UV radiation,
• encapsulants for protection from other environmental damage,
• cable insulators.

2) Poor workmanship during the soldering process when connecting the cells together inside a panel.


Who will be on the losing end?

Common sense tells us that it does not require a second fault to discourage people from buying the same product. One failure is good enough (or bad enough, in this context) to keep a keen-head away from an uncharted territory. And solar PV industry is still 'uncharted' business venture until today.

Remember, people are still trying to chart the business model of solar PV and there's no curve yet that is acceptable to the majority.

So, not only the buyers (enterprises or individuals) will shy away from investing, but the industry as a whole will suffer. Financing will become harder to come by, and the only driving factor to push Solar PV forward is politics. Governments are forced to enforce unrealistic FIT schemes for a short term sustenance and it will become very expensive to maintain.


Where is my 20-year warranty on Solar Panel?

Until such time that corner-cuttings and the unrealistic governmental supports to every-tom-dick-and-harry manufacturers come to an end, we will continue to have a lot of 5-year rather than 20-year warranted panels.

On the same token we can ask our Malaysia Government on the currently on-going Solar-hybrid power supply for the rural folks. It is a known fact that many of the solar PV systems (hybrid or stand-alone) fail after only few years in operation. Was this due to poor maintenance or as a result of lousy solar panels/components?


Read the article by REW and the interesting discussion by industry players here.

PV Module Consolidation in 2013-2014?

The PV manufacturing sector has seen sustained profits and stable growth for several years now.

However, research shows that it is now in the state of overcapacity and most solar PV producers are facing difficulty trying to balance their accounts. GTM Research thinks that much more consolidation is on the way, and that the global PV module landscape is headed for a significant transformation.

Some of clear indicators of this are - plant closures, market exits and insolvencies in the past year and a half.

Figure 1: PV module supply capacity versus global installation. Image: GTM


What can we expect:

Below, I share with you what GTM envision to play out over the course of the next 2 years:

1. Market exit or plant closure will continue to happen to firms with facilities in high-cost locations such as in Western Europe and the U.S. By 2015, module facilities in high-cost locations are expected to make up just 9% of global capacity, compared to 32% in 2009.

2. By 2014, it is expected that thin film will make up less than 5% of global module capacity, compared to 19% in 2009. Three suppliers - Hanergy, Solar Frontier, and First Solar - will make up 92% of the installed thin film base.

3. Aggressive downstream build-out in China: The large pure-play firms and diversified firms are likely to be awarded with module supply or EPC contracts for several large, multi-hundred-megawatt projects on account of their workforce and government connections.

4. Some of the struggling Pure-play Chinese firms will receive additional debt from domestic Lenders to allow them to service their near-term debt obligations, stay solvent, and maintain employment.

5. Large Chinese firms will continue to acquire European module companies. We have seen Asian firms acquiring established but embattled European module suppliers such as Sunways, Scheuten, Q-Cells and Solon. This trend is expected to continue.

6. Some Pure-play Chinese firms could be acquired by State-owned Chinese firms. There are natural synergies to be gained from the acquisition of certain pure-play Chinese solar firms by larger diversified Chinese firms.

7. Rather than allowing “zombie companies” in China to go insolvent, banks are forced to continue lending money to failed businesses far past the point where they demonstrate any ability to repay the debts

8. Larger diversified firms (such as LG, Samsung, AU Optronics, Sharp, Panasonic, Bosch, and Saint-Gobain) could be forced to exit the market. They need to decide whether to cut their losses, or to continue to compete by differentiating substantially and aggressively in terms of their product or business model.


Well the solar PV can be unpredictable and in 5 years' time these expectation may not be even relevant. But we'll see.

GTM - Green Tech Media
You can read the full report here.

Solar-powered car in the future?

275W x 8 = 2.2 kWp system? Possible.

International Solar PV Manufacturers in Malaysia

Current statistics (forget about the outdated data in Wikipedia) shows that Malaysia is currently the THIRD largest solar module manufacturing hub in the world.

Several solar panel manufacturers are thriving in the country, such as First Solar, located at Kedah; Q-cells, which has a base in Selangor; AUO and SunPower’s unit, located at Melaka; and MEMC, which operates from Sarawak.

UPDATE: Due to deteriorating market conditions in Europe, German's First Solar scaled back on production in Malaysia by idling 4 production lines at its plant in Kedah effective May 1, 2012. Not a good news for the industry.

AUO SunPower solar PV manufacturing plant in Melaka, Malaysia

SunPower and AU Optronics have begun the construction of a new solar photo voltaic production facility, which will generate 1,400 MWs. The facility will be completed by 2013 and is located at Melaka, which is the hub of solar energy in Malaysia. Located outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur, the installed capacity will be 28 solar production lines.

It began production in October 2011 and produced close to 5 MW, showing high conversion efficiency of 22.5%. This facility will be unique, in the sense that it will have a parking area that also hosts solar cells, helping in the production of 2.6MW of power generation annually. Additionally, rooftop installations will help in the production of another 10MW every year.

The latest investor is Panasonic Energy Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a Japanese electronics giant that has grown significantly as a solar panel manufacturer. The company has announced that it will invest US $580 million to install a production facility for a solar cell plant at Kedah. It is expected to be operational by December of this year. The facility is slated to produce 300MW of PV. The plan includes production of Panasonics’ HIT photo voltaic modules and will look at solar wafers, modules and cell production, while employing close to 1,500 personnel.

Other companies beginning production are IRM Group subsidiary IRM Solar Sdn Bhd, following the Feed-In Approval it received from the Sustainable Energy Development Authority for the installation of 5.0MW capacity at Padang Besar. The FiT for IRM Solar will commence from 9 April 2013, and will be provided for the next 21 years.

Malaysia is very upbeat with the introduction of a new silicon-cell product, which includes a wafer production system that is expected to cut solar cell production by a massive US$0.40 per Watt/W. The company, called Twin Creeks Technologies, has already announced that aside of its Senatobia demo plant in Mississippi, where it is currently manufacturing 25MW; it wants to increase production to 100MW by opting for a joint venture in Malaysia to build production facilities. Twin Creeks has released a new product that slices polysilicon with an ion cannon to one-tenth of the thickness of today’s wafers.

Looking for sales in Asia, Malaysia has a promise of becoming the Grand Central of solar, second only to China for new and old companies.

Source: solarpvinvestor