China-based solar-grade monocrystalline silicon wafer maker Xi'an LONGi Silicon Materials has been expanding its production capacity.
The company said it had 1.6GWp in annual capacity as of year-end 2013, and it will reach 2.3GWp by mid-2014, 3GWp by year-end 2014, and 4GWp in 2015.
As government-offered PV feed-in tariff rates are on the decline and subsidization focus is shifting from ground-mounted PV power-generating stations to rooftop systems in China, Japan, Europe and the US, global demand for monocrystalline PV modules is on the rise and so is demand for solar-grade monocrystalline silicon wafers, Xi'an LONGi said.
In addition to material cost for polysiliocn, cost for crystal growing and ingot slicing for monocrystalline silicon wafers stood at US$0.2/W and US$0.17-0.18/W for polycrystalline ones three years ago, Xi'an LONGi indicated.
Xi'an LONGi has reduced such cost for monocrystalline silicon wafers to US$0.12/W, which is still higher than US$0.1/W for polycrystalline ones. It said it plans to further reduce the cost to US$0.06-0.07/W in three years.
