If we want to explain the development of photovoltaic manufacturing industry, we can use the two words "cost reduction" and "efficiency improvement" to summarize, and in the direction of cost reduction, the technology iteration of the silicon wafer link can be said to be crucial, through improving the thickness and size of the silicon wafer. It has evolved into today's mature technology development route of thin and large-size silicon wafers.
In recent years, under the leadership of leading manufacturers, the thinning of silicon wafers has reached 150 μm for P-type mainstream thickness and 130 μm for N-type mainstream thickness, which is more uniform than size, but there have been differences in the size reform. From 2013-2017, the size of Al-BSF battery (Al-BSF) is mainly 156 mm (M0) and 156.75 (M2), and after the era of single crystal PERC becoming the mainstream technology in 2018, the size change has grown rapidly, and there are many sizes in parallel in the market from 2019 to 2020. 166mm (M6), 182mm (M10), 210mm (G12) and other silicon wafer sizes still have a certain market share, while the large-size 182mm (M10) and 210mm (G12) products are most widely used in the market. In the early stage of the development
of large-size silicon wafers, component manufacturers also experienced different sizes, which posed a greater challenge to the material supply of material suppliers. In September 2021, Longji, Jinko and Jingao reached a consensus on the unified size of 182 modules, of which the most mainstream size of 72 modules was "2278 * 1134mm", which greatly promoted the unification of the size of modules in the whole industry.
Through the enlargement of silicon wafer size, the power of modules has been greatly increased, which can effectively reduce the cost of BOS and optimize the cost of photovoltaic power generation per kilowatt hour. On the development path of rectangular silicon wafers, at first, integrated enterprises with silicon wafer production capacity adjust the size of silicon wafers based on different component interconnection technologies to achieve higher wattage gains without changing the size of components. For example, the 182 * 183.75mm silicon wafer proposed by Longji based on triangular welding strip + flat welding strip segmentation technology and the 182 * 185.3mm silicon wafer proposed by Jingao based on zero-pitch flexible interconnection technology. The combination of "rectangular silicon wafer" and "high-density packaging technology" has gradually emerged as the development focus of the industry. From the very beginning, the
module manufacturers did not use the original module area to the limit without breaking through the existing module size. Later, they gradually found that the original large panel module size of 2278 * 1134 mm could not make full use of the container space, and then increased the silicon wafer area by changing the long side and evolved into a variety of rectangular sizes.
The following InfoLink lists the size selection of various rectangular silicon wafers:
Observing them, it can be found that the manufacturers have boundary restrictions on the research and development of silicon wafer size: the short side of the module is fixed at 1134mm, so as to maintain the stacking of two trays of modules within the limit of the door height of a 40-foot high container; In addition to the original 2278 mm, the long side of the large panel components has been differentiated based on the research and development of various companies. However, the length of the components is still mainly not more than 2386 mm, maintaining 20 units to fill a 40-foot high container. In addition, some manufacturers also refer to European building regulations and strive to maintain the area of small components within two square meters. Schematic diagram
of
40-foot high container and 20-tray module placement However, the inconsistency of silicon wafer sizes also brings confusion and inconvenience to the industry, and non-integrated enterprises are facing difficulties in both procurement and sales due to the customized silicon wafer sizes. In addition to the need for professional silicon wafer factories to negotiate orders for rectangular silicon wafers of various sizes, and the remaining orders for professional battery and component factories after production are not easy to sell, the adjustment of fixtures, the application of auxiliary materials such as film and glass will also increase the cost of production and manufacturing in a disguised way. At the same time, it also tests the supply chain management ability of manufacturers.
For terminals, the size of components is the focus of their attention. The various sizes of components will bring challenges to the design and management of end users. BOS (Balance of System) also needs matching ex: the installation hole spacing, tracking bracket, inverter, etc. Need to be matched; in terms of supply, the flexible allocation of goods is also difficult. Therefore, although the current component size is blooming again, and the major manufacturers have not yet formally set the size route, the component size is gradually concentrated in the rectangular silicon wafer component exhibits presented by the leading manufacturers during this year's SNEC and InterSolar Europe exhibitions. There are still three sizes of 1722/1762/1780mm on the long side of the small version of 48/54 pieces; In addition to the conventional size of 2278 * 1134 mm, the size of 238X * 1134 mm has gradually become the main selection under the long-side change. Even in late June, it was heard that the first nine enterprises had reached a preliminary consensus on the size of the modules. It is expected that the size of PV modules will gradually move towards standardization in the future.
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