A multi-million euro investment has being made by China-based start-up Nanjing Sunport Power Co. Ltd. in purchasing a complete back contact PV module assembly line from the Dutch manufacturer Eurotron. The contract is the start of a close cooperation between both companies and a major step in innovation for PV module production in mainland China.
The production line is capable of handling a range of back-contact cell-to-module technologies such as MWT, EWT, HJBC and IBC for both multi and mono P-type and N-type wafers. Various back-contact solar cell-to-module technologies offer the potential to utilize ultra-thin wafers in the range of 120 um thickness and lower cell-to-module losses that reduce costs and boost conversion efficiencies amongst other manufacturing cost benefits.
Eurotron recently received a production line order from a start-up in Qatar and its back-contact equipment was developed in collaboration with ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) the largest energy research institute in the Netherlands. Several leading China based module manufacturers have licensed ECN’s MWT technology such as Yingli Solar and Canadian Solar.
China-based PV manufacturers have also been instructed by government authorities that to operate in the sector in the future, only companies able to achieve high conversion efficiencies will be allowed to operate in an attempt to reduce overcapacity and the use of older technology and equipment.
Read more: Eurotron (PDF)