China-based Guangdong Aiko Solar Energy Technology has disclosed its annual production capacity of 4GWp for mono-Si bifacial PERC cell is now operational.
Aiko said it completed production capacity of 1.35GWp for mono-Si bifacial PERC cells at its factory in Foshan, southern China in June 2017, and 2.65GWp at another in Yiwu, eastern China at year-end 2017.
Aiko reportedly plans to invest CNY6 billion (US$909 million) to construct production capacity totaling 8.0GWp for mono-Si bifacial PERC cells in Yiwu in five years.
The energy conversion rate for the front side of mono-Si bifacial PERC cells produced by Aiko exceeds 21.5% and the back side is over 15.0%, and average light-induced degradation for such cells is less than 1.5% after generating electricity of 20kWh, according to the company.
Of PV modules each made of 60 such cells, more than 70% reportedly have power output of over 305W per module and Aiko expects over 30% of the modules to reach output of over 310W by year-end 2018.
The China government in late 2017 announced the third round of a project to construct model PV power stations with minimum output of 295W for a PV module made of 60 mono-Si cells.
According to market research firms, global annual production capacity for PERC cells was over 30GWp at the end of 2017 and will exceed 50GWp by year-end 2018.
Article translated by Adam Hwang
