Trina Solar

The PV module manufacturer has started mass production of its Vertex 550 W ultra-high-power modules at its factory in China’s Jiangsu province. It expects to start manufacturing 600 W panels in the first quarter of next year.

The Chinese giant now has plans in place to hit more than 50 GW of panel capacity – and 26 GW of cell lines – next year.

In a pv magazine webinar earlier this month, Trina Solar took us through some of the key considerations for the PV industry’s rapid switch to new, larger format modules based on 210mm wafers. The rise of such modules raises important questions up and down the supply chain. Here, Lim Cheong Boon, Head of product and marketing at Trina Solar APAC, and Andrew Gilhooly, head of TrinaPro for Asia Pacific respond to some of the questions from the audience that we could not cover in the one-hour webinar.

A new week has brought another slew of big production capacity announcements as online retailer JD.com prepares to install 200 MW of solar rooftop capacity and project developer SFSY reported on a promising new business stream.

Chinese polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has secured a long-term supply agreement with PV equipment provider and monocrystalline wafer manufacturer Wuxi Shangji Automation, Shanxi Coal International Energy Group has unveiled a plan to set up a 10 GW heterojunction solar cell production fab and Longi has held its wafer prices.

The latest products in the Vertex series from the Chinese manufacturer, unveiled at the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai, are available in six versions with reported efficiency ranging from 20.4-21.2%.

Chinese manufacturers including Trina Solar, Risen Energy and JA Solar have established a group to design and produce bigger PV modules. The 39-member alliance also includes inverter suppliers including Huawei, Sungrow and SMA.

Canadian Solar has unveiled its newest line of PV modules, with maximum power ratings of up to 590 W. Trina Solar, meanwhile, has signed a deal to supply PV modules for almost 1 GW of capacity throughout the world.

As the solar industry starts to embrace ultra-high-efficiency modules, the Chinese PV heavyweight has unveiled TrinaPro Mega, the first integrated solar system in the world that incorporates 500 W+ modules.

The Chinese manufacturer will provide Indian developer SunSource Energy with its Vertex panels. Shipments will be made in the fourth quarter.