Continuous price falls prevent solar firms developing new technologies Nuying Huang,Taipei;Jackie Chang,DIGITIMES [Thursday 27 September 2012]The trade barriers built up by the US and EU have yet to stop the price fall of solar products and the continuous decline has been keeping firms away from developing mono-crystalline N-type technologies.Solar firms pointed out that many players have been suffering from continuous net losses and hence have no more resources to develop new technologies.
In oversupply,aiming to make products with higher efficiency seems to be a sensible path as technological breakthroughs for mainstream P-type products has been difficult.N-type mono-crystalline solar products have been seen as the future for the solar market.Nevertheless,only firms such as SunPower and Panasonic have been modifying technology while others have shied away from continuous technological developments.
Solar firms indicated that if firms mass produced N-type solar products right now,it would be hard to compete with mainstream products without slashing prices.However,the cost of developing N-type solar products is much higher than the cost of developing mainstream P-type solar products.This means it is very likely firms with N-type products would suffer losses.Therefore,many firms have been waiting for the price of mainstream products to rebound before investing in N-type solar product development.
According to Lin Hur-Lon,general manager of Taiwan-based solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology(GET),the investment into P-type mono-crystalline crystal growing technology is for developing N-type solar wafers in the future.However,the output efficiency of mono-crystalline crystal growing is far lower than multi-crystalline.Furthermore,N-type technology is more crucial in the solar cell segment,therefore,GET has been searching for strategic solar cell partners for further cooperation.
