Despite the promising market outlook for solar energy due to the increasing global demand for alternative energy, PV manufacturers face numerous challenges. They must strive to lower their production costs while enhancing the efficiency and quality of their solutions. To keep ahead of the stiff competition, market players are poised to adapt their technology to constantly changing needs.
Both silicon raw materials and wafers are affected by exploding costs, with silicon wafer prices in particular a key factor for PV modules. Rising costs for their raw materials are the driving force behind the trend towards large-sized silicon wafers, which allow for lower production costs. In 2021, 166mm and 182mm silicon wafers became a common size in the market. 182mm and 210mm-sized cells are expected to become the major segments in the near future.
Improving module efficiency is an effective tool for reducing module prices. Many manufacturers have introduced different component solder stacking techniques in recent years. By applying this technology, the currently common values for spacing between the cells have been reduced from 2-5mm to 2-0.5 mm.
