| Trina Solar Ltd. says its subsidiary Trina Solar (Germany) GmbH has signed a sales agreement with Mohring Energie GmbH, a Germany-based project developer and engineering, procurement and construction services company. Under terms of the agreement, Trina Solar is expected to deliver to Mohring 130 MW of the company's solar modules in the second and third quarter of this year. Initial shipments have already commenced. Source: Solar Industry |
Showing posts with label Trina Solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trina Solar. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Trina Solar Signs 130 MW Module Deal
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Trina Solar Invests in Lower Cost Silicon
Researchers from The Australian National University in Canberra have found a way to use more abundant lower grade silicon components to generate electricity from sunlight.
Lead researcher Dr Daniel Macdonald says the breakthrough will increase efficiency and reduce consumer energy costs.
"Most solar cells made from silicon today use P-type silicon, which is more resistant to radiation in space," Dr Macdonald said.
"That's totally irrelevant for terrestrial applications."
The research highlights the benefits of N-type silicon, which is less affected by the impurities that reduce efficiency.
The ANU and one of China's largest solar energy manufacturing companies, Trina Solar have formed a partnership to commercialise the technology within 3 years.
"We believe that this project will allow us to take some of our best innovations from our laboratory and actually implement them in industry, so that people can put them on their rooftops."
Dr Macdonald says the new silicon cells will be cheaper to manufacture and he's confident the technology will drive down the cost of solar electricity by up to 10 per cent.
"In collaboration with Trina Solar .. we are aiming to develop 20 per cent solar cells. That compares with today's industry standard of typical P-type counterparts of around 18 per cent. Now that may not sound like a big increase, but effectively it means that for a solar module of the same surface area, you get 10 per cent more electricity out. That is a significant increment."
Dr Macdonald says the strategic partnership with Trina follows more than 12 months of talks, and he hopes it will endure.
"China will be the dominant manufacturing centre for photovoltaic modules in the foreseeable future, so that's a very valuable relationship for us."
The Federal Government is contributing $3 million towards the total $11 million project.
The Federal Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson says he is not worried about exporting the manufacturing of Australian breakthroughs overseas.
"As the pace of solar energy deployment actually accelerates globally it is imperative that Australia remains a leader in the field."
"We are not going to get thousands of jobs in manufacturing. We are going to actually concentrate on high tech innovation and in doing so create the capacity, create additional jobs in the installation of these opportunities throughout the length and breadth of Australia."
Dr Huang Qiang of the Chinese firm Trina Solar noted the auspicious date of today's announcement.
"This day is a very, very nice day!"
"(The numeral) eight in Chinese means fortune and growth. Two means two parties."
"This is the meaning of the day. We are so happy to work with ANU on this project and we have set up an Australian office."
The Federal Government agency, the Australian Solar Institute (ASI) says the collaboration is a vote of confidence for Australian research.
Jenny Goddard chairs the ASI board.
"Solar is the worlds fastest growing energy market, and global PV (photovoltaic) capacity has been increasing at an annual growth rate of 40% since 2000," Ms Goddard said.
"Trina provides the platform for the world market to witness Australian innovation, and opens the pathway we hope, for future opportunities."
She described ANU's solar energy research team as world leading.
The university has secured close to $18million in ASI grant funding to date.
Source: ABC News / by Adrienne Francis
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Trina Solar To Supply 30 MW Webberville Solar Project in Texas
Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has closed financing and begun construction on the 30 MW Webberville Solar project, which will be located just outside Austin, Texas, and is scheduled to be operational by year-end.
Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. has been selected to construct the project and provide operations and maintenance services for the power plant for five years, FRV says. Once operational, the solar energy from the plant will provide electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement with Austin Energy for 25 years.
FRV has also partnered with Bayerische Landesbank, which has fully underwritten the construction debt for the project. With this team now in place, the construction of the Webberville Solar project, sited on Austin Energy-owned land in Webberville, Texas, is fully under way.
In order to maximize the solar energy output at the site, the solar plant will be constructed by mounting modules on a flat, single-axis tracking system, FRV notes. The project will deploy 270 W crystalline photovoltaic modules that FRV procured directly from Trina Solar.
Source: Solar Industry
Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. has been selected to construct the project and provide operations and maintenance services for the power plant for five years, FRV says. Once operational, the solar energy from the plant will provide electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement with Austin Energy for 25 years.
FRV has also partnered with Bayerische Landesbank, which has fully underwritten the construction debt for the project. With this team now in place, the construction of the Webberville Solar project, sited on Austin Energy-owned land in Webberville, Texas, is fully under way.
In order to maximize the solar energy output at the site, the solar plant will be constructed by mounting modules on a flat, single-axis tracking system, FRV notes. The project will deploy 270 W crystalline photovoltaic modules that FRV procured directly from Trina Solar.
Source: Solar Industry
Monday, April 11, 2011
Which PV Manufacturers Are the Most EcoFriendly?
With rapidly increasing global module production volumes, managing the environmental footprint of PV module manufacturing has taken on great urgency. Solar energy's supporters and detractors alike readily acknowledge the potential environmental and public-health risks that manufacturing can pose.
Myths, misinformation and corporate opacity, however, often interfere with honest dialogue about the problem and investigation into possible solutions. In its newly released 2011 Solar Scorecard, nonprofit organization Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) brings concrete data points and rankings into the discussion.
The scorecard rates the world's major PV module manufacturing players on four "green manufacturing" criteria: product takeback and recycling, worker health and safety issues at PV facilities and in the supply chain, chemical use and lifecycle analysis, and company disclosure statements.
All scores are based on manufacturers' responses to a survey from SVTC. Although 40 firms were asked to participate, only 15 responded - perhaps a telling survey finding in itself when a primary emphasis is on transparency and accountability.
Overall, Germany-based crystalline PV module manufacturer SolarWorld took the No. 1 spot, with an overall score of 91 out of 100. The company received top marks for product takeback and recycling, as well as for supply chain and green jobs.
In its survey responses, SolarWorld garnered points for such environmentally friendly actions as sending its returned modules to a third-party recycling facility, prohibiting the export of end-of-life modules from developed countries to developing countries, and conducting audits to monitor its supply chain for environmental and health issues. The company also stated that its does not use prison labor for production or recycling.
SolarWorld lost several points in SVTC's chemical-use and lifecycle-analysis category for using lead in its products. The company was far from the only lead-user; SVTC found that only two of 15 respondents manufacture modules that are free of both lead and cadmium - two notoriously toxic materials closely associated with PV manufacturing.
More encouragingly, the report found that all five of the manufacturers that have undergone the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure passed the test. However, of the three manufacturers that took a comparable California test, one failed both of the test's portions, and the remaining two each failed one portion.
Behind SolarWorld, China-headquartered Trina Solar placed second in the manufacturer rankings, with a score of 89. The company was followed by Norway-based REC, Arizona-based First Solar and Colorado-based Abound Solar, which each earned a score of 87. SunPower (85 points), Solon (84), Sovello (83), Calyxo (82) and Yingli Solar (72) rounded out the top 10.
SVTC believes that based on the results of the scorecard, the industry still has time to establish a less toxic manufacturing and disposal footprint to complement PV's green electricity production. Based on the historical path of the electronics industry, however, that window of opportunity will soon be closing.
"The solar PV industry's rapid growth makes it critical to focus on industry innovation on reducing toxic materials use and on developing products that are easier and safer to recycle," the organization says. SVTC also called for the industry to build domestic recycling infrastructure that adheres to proximity principles.
The full Solar Scorecard, with sortable rankings and full survey responses from manufacturers, is available from SVTC here.
Myths, misinformation and corporate opacity, however, often interfere with honest dialogue about the problem and investigation into possible solutions. In its newly released 2011 Solar Scorecard, nonprofit organization Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) brings concrete data points and rankings into the discussion.
The scorecard rates the world's major PV module manufacturing players on four "green manufacturing" criteria: product takeback and recycling, worker health and safety issues at PV facilities and in the supply chain, chemical use and lifecycle analysis, and company disclosure statements.
All scores are based on manufacturers' responses to a survey from SVTC. Although 40 firms were asked to participate, only 15 responded - perhaps a telling survey finding in itself when a primary emphasis is on transparency and accountability.
Overall, Germany-based crystalline PV module manufacturer SolarWorld took the No. 1 spot, with an overall score of 91 out of 100. The company received top marks for product takeback and recycling, as well as for supply chain and green jobs.
In its survey responses, SolarWorld garnered points for such environmentally friendly actions as sending its returned modules to a third-party recycling facility, prohibiting the export of end-of-life modules from developed countries to developing countries, and conducting audits to monitor its supply chain for environmental and health issues. The company also stated that its does not use prison labor for production or recycling.
SolarWorld lost several points in SVTC's chemical-use and lifecycle-analysis category for using lead in its products. The company was far from the only lead-user; SVTC found that only two of 15 respondents manufacture modules that are free of both lead and cadmium - two notoriously toxic materials closely associated with PV manufacturing.
More encouragingly, the report found that all five of the manufacturers that have undergone the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure passed the test. However, of the three manufacturers that took a comparable California test, one failed both of the test's portions, and the remaining two each failed one portion.
Behind SolarWorld, China-headquartered Trina Solar placed second in the manufacturer rankings, with a score of 89. The company was followed by Norway-based REC, Arizona-based First Solar and Colorado-based Abound Solar, which each earned a score of 87. SunPower (85 points), Solon (84), Sovello (83), Calyxo (82) and Yingli Solar (72) rounded out the top 10.
SVTC believes that based on the results of the scorecard, the industry still has time to establish a less toxic manufacturing and disposal footprint to complement PV's green electricity production. Based on the historical path of the electronics industry, however, that window of opportunity will soon be closing.
"The solar PV industry's rapid growth makes it critical to focus on industry innovation on reducing toxic materials use and on developing products that are easier and safer to recycle," the organization says. SVTC also called for the industry to build domestic recycling infrastructure that adheres to proximity principles.
The full Solar Scorecard, with sortable rankings and full survey responses from manufacturers, is available from SVTC here.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Trina Solar Teams up with Zep Solar
Zep Solar has signed a licensing and marketing agreement with Trina Solar that highlights two trends in the photovoltaic industry: Reducing mounting system materials and costs and offering pre-designed systems to distributors and installers.
Trina is incorporating Zep’s framing design (Zep Groove) into its solar panel production, and it plans to launch not only the panels but also a system of panels and Zep mounting gear in the third quarter of this year. Trina joins six other solar panel makers and integrators to incorporate Zep’s technology into their module and system offerings, said Daniel Flanigan, vice president of marketing at Zep. Other customers include Canadian Solar, ET Solar, CentroSolar, Up Solar and Eco-Kinetics.
The deal with Trina is a nice validation for Zep, which was founded in 2009 to simplify installation equipment and save time and money. Key parts of its offering, aside from the Zep Groove frame, include the interlocks to string together and automatically ground the panels, wire clips for anchoring the cable wires, and what it calls the “array skirt” that gives the front and public-facing part of the system a more polished look.
The company, based in San Rafael, CA, has launched racks for slanted and flat rooftops for residential and commercial market, and is looking for opportunities to do utility-scale projects. The plan isn’t to launch gear for utility-scale installations but to work with equipment suppliers and contractors to customize mounting hardware for specific projects, Flanigan said.
The company contracts with manufacturers in the United States to make its products, and has shipped 8 megawatts worth of prooduct since early 2010, Flanigan said. Most of the installations are in the residential rooftop space. Zep raised an A round of $7.4 million last year from investors including Aquillian Investments.
Mounting systems aren’t the most high tech part of a PV system, but they are gettingmore attention from installers, contractors and investors for their part in driving down costs of installations and solar electricity pricing. The solar industry is in a race to prove that solar electricity is not only a more eco-friendly energy but also can be affordable soon.
There is no agreement on how soon solar can be as cheap as power from power plants that run on coal and natural gas, but the Obama administration has set a goal of driving down the installation cost to $1 per watt for utility-scale projects by the end of this decade. The administration has asked Congress to boost funding for the U.S. Department of Energy for the 2012 fiscal year to help achieve this goal.
A mounting system usually makes up about 10 percent of the materials in a PV project, Juan Suarez, senior director of engineering and program management at Unirac, told me recently. Roughly 40 percent of the labor in a project goes to setting up the mounting gear and wiring. Overall a mounting system makes up about 25 percent of the total installation cost, he added. Unirac, based in New Mexico, also develops mounting systems and was bought by the Hilti Group, a construction tool supplier in Europe, last year.
Using Zep’s equipment can decrease the time to install a solar array itself (not counting inverters and other installation parts outside of the array) by five times, Flanigan said. Overall, the design cuts total installation time by half, he added.
Trina Solar also joins a club of solar panel makers who believe they could better market their core products by marketing them with equipment that makes up a solar power system. Suntech Power, for example, has done this by teaming up with microinverter maker, Enphase Energy. First Solar recently bought RayTracker and presumably will offer systems that make use of RayTracker’s single-axis tracking equipment. Until now, First Solar has been mounting its thin films in fixed-tilt gear.
Canadian Solar also sees an increasing demand from customers, particularly those in Canada and Japan, to get the key pieces of equipment for a power project from one source.
“They want to see a total hardware solution, so we provide modules, source components and do system designs,” said Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar, in an interview earlier this week.
Source: Renewable EnergyWorld.com
Trina is incorporating Zep’s framing design (Zep Groove) into its solar panel production, and it plans to launch not only the panels but also a system of panels and Zep mounting gear in the third quarter of this year. Trina joins six other solar panel makers and integrators to incorporate Zep’s technology into their module and system offerings, said Daniel Flanigan, vice president of marketing at Zep. Other customers include Canadian Solar, ET Solar, CentroSolar, Up Solar and Eco-Kinetics.
The deal with Trina is a nice validation for Zep, which was founded in 2009 to simplify installation equipment and save time and money. Key parts of its offering, aside from the Zep Groove frame, include the interlocks to string together and automatically ground the panels, wire clips for anchoring the cable wires, and what it calls the “array skirt” that gives the front and public-facing part of the system a more polished look.
The company, based in San Rafael, CA, has launched racks for slanted and flat rooftops for residential and commercial market, and is looking for opportunities to do utility-scale projects. The plan isn’t to launch gear for utility-scale installations but to work with equipment suppliers and contractors to customize mounting hardware for specific projects, Flanigan said.
The company contracts with manufacturers in the United States to make its products, and has shipped 8 megawatts worth of prooduct since early 2010, Flanigan said. Most of the installations are in the residential rooftop space. Zep raised an A round of $7.4 million last year from investors including Aquillian Investments.
Mounting systems aren’t the most high tech part of a PV system, but they are gettingmore attention from installers, contractors and investors for their part in driving down costs of installations and solar electricity pricing. The solar industry is in a race to prove that solar electricity is not only a more eco-friendly energy but also can be affordable soon.
There is no agreement on how soon solar can be as cheap as power from power plants that run on coal and natural gas, but the Obama administration has set a goal of driving down the installation cost to $1 per watt for utility-scale projects by the end of this decade. The administration has asked Congress to boost funding for the U.S. Department of Energy for the 2012 fiscal year to help achieve this goal.
A mounting system usually makes up about 10 percent of the materials in a PV project, Juan Suarez, senior director of engineering and program management at Unirac, told me recently. Roughly 40 percent of the labor in a project goes to setting up the mounting gear and wiring. Overall a mounting system makes up about 25 percent of the total installation cost, he added. Unirac, based in New Mexico, also develops mounting systems and was bought by the Hilti Group, a construction tool supplier in Europe, last year.
Using Zep’s equipment can decrease the time to install a solar array itself (not counting inverters and other installation parts outside of the array) by five times, Flanigan said. Overall, the design cuts total installation time by half, he added.
Trina Solar also joins a club of solar panel makers who believe they could better market their core products by marketing them with equipment that makes up a solar power system. Suntech Power, for example, has done this by teaming up with microinverter maker, Enphase Energy. First Solar recently bought RayTracker and presumably will offer systems that make use of RayTracker’s single-axis tracking equipment. Until now, First Solar has been mounting its thin films in fixed-tilt gear.
Canadian Solar also sees an increasing demand from customers, particularly those in Canada and Japan, to get the key pieces of equipment for a power project from one source.
“They want to see a total hardware solution, so we provide modules, source components and do system designs,” said Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar, in an interview earlier this week.
Source: Renewable EnergyWorld.com
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Trina Solar Expanding Manufacturing Capacity
Trina Solar Ltd. says it intends to invest approximately $800 million over three years in Changzhou Trina PV Park in order to ramp up manufacturing capacity and expand research and development (R&D) facilities.
"We are pleased to announce the continuing investments in our capacity expansion and R&D within the Changzhou Trina PV Park to meet the increasing global demand for our PV products and brand," says Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar. "The investments will also include the establishment of our state key PV research laboratory to accelerate the advancement and delivery of new technologies and products."
SOURCE: Trina Solar
"We are pleased to announce the continuing investments in our capacity expansion and R&D within the Changzhou Trina PV Park to meet the increasing global demand for our PV products and brand," says Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar. "The investments will also include the establishment of our state key PV research laboratory to accelerate the advancement and delivery of new technologies and products."
SOURCE: Trina Solar
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Trina Solar Releases 3rd Quarter Results
Trina Solar (NYSE TSL) is up 1701% this year (through Dec. 1, 2010). They just released their third quarter results.
"We continue to see strong demand momentum into the fourth quarter and the outlook for 2011 is increasingly positive; we expect that demand for our products will outpace our planned capacity expansion in 2011,” noted Gao. “Our expansion will allow us to increase sales in high growth PV markets such as the United States and Japan, while expand our presence and sales in Australia and other emerging solar markets. In parallel, our continued investments in localizing customer service and increasing service levels allow us to target higher value end-segments and high profile projects and to further differentiate our product offerings from other brands. We expect continuous gain in market share linked to our sales strategy and our emphasis on quality in our existing and new PV products and solutions."
The PV manufacturer reported module shipments of approximately 291MW, exceeding previous guidance of 250MW to 260MW with Net revenues of US$508.3 million and a gross margin rate of 31.4%.
Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar said that the outlook for 2011 was increasingly positive as demand would outpace Trina’s planned capacity expansions in 2011.
"We continue to see strong demand momentum into the fourth quarter and the outlook for 2011 is increasingly positive; we expect that demand for our products will outpace our planned capacity expansion in 2011,” noted Gao. “Our expansion will allow us to increase sales in high growth PV markets such as the United States and Japan, while expand our presence and sales in Australia and other emerging solar markets. In parallel, our continued investments in localizing customer service and increasing service levels allow us to target higher value end-segments and high profile projects and to further differentiate our product offerings from other brands. We expect continuous gain in market share linked to our sales strategy and our emphasis on quality in our existing and new PV products and solutions."
Trina Solar noted that its annualised in-house production capacity of ingots and wafers as well as PV cell and module production capacity is expected to reach approximately 1.2GW and 1.7GW, respectively.
Based on continued strong demand, Trina Solar expects 2010 module shipments to reach approximately 1GW, up from previous guidance of between 900MW and 930MW.
However, despite high factory utilisation rates and a virtual ‘sold-out’ situation in 2010, the PV manufacturer saw non-silicon manufacturing cost applicable to its in-house wafer production to module production of approximately US$0.73 per watt, compared to US$0.74 per watt in the previous quarter.
Based on continued strong demand, Trina Solar expects 2010 module shipments to reach approximately 1GW, up from previous guidance of between 900MW and 930MW.
However, despite high factory utilisation rates and a virtual ‘sold-out’ situation in 2010, the PV manufacturer saw non-silicon manufacturing cost applicable to its in-house wafer production to module production of approximately US$0.73 per watt, compared to US$0.74 per watt in the previous quarter.
Sources: Trina Solar + PV Tech.org
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