Energetica India Magazine December 2020

and reduce the cost of the industrial chain. The upstream and auxiliary material suppliers such as glass, silicon wafers, junction boxes, etc. are produced under unified standards, which will greatly reduce the loss caused by switching production lines and the inventory cost due to different specifications, so that the production of the 210 mm size modules’ entire industry chain will be more ordered and effective. The diversification of photovoltaic module sizes not only led to the low matching degree in supply chains, but also added a lot of direct and hidden costs. Many glass manufacturers and modules manufacturers have also put forward their demands for uniform specifications as much as possible. When the glass supply gets tight, the industry still loses more than one million square meters of glass production capacity every month due to the switch of different sizes of product specifications; and hundreds of thousands of square meters of glass have become stranded inventory due to the cancellation of customer orders. Not only that, due to the diversification of the size of photovoltaic modules, glass manufacturers need to stock a variety of specifications of glass, these glasses cannot be used between different module factories, bringing a lot of inventory costs to glass companies, affecting the supply capacity and delivery in time. After the standardization of size, the inventory and supply of glass and all modules related to the size and specifications of the backplane, EVA, junction box and other non-silicon auxiliary materials can be optimized. The cost reduction effect of “standardization” is not only reflected in the optimization of module material inventory and supply, but also in the production and manufacturing process of the overall industrial chain, including silicon wafer pulling, slicing, cell manufacturing and module manufacturing. Even if the manufacturing equipment is compatible, different tooling and fixtures must be configured to meet different cell or module sizes (tooling cost is estimated at 5-7 million RMB/GW). The greater impact is on the loss of production capacity when switching between products of different, inventory costs of products of different specifications, and processing costs of downgraded products. According to preliminary estimates by industry insiders, it usually takes 10-12 hours to switch between different products in cell and module manufacturing. In addition to the loss of yield and efficiency per switch, the cost of each switch is about 0.003- 0.005¥/W, with its 1GW correspondent cost of 3-5 million¥/run. Compared with the previous products, the 210mm size module products and system solutions based on the new technology platform have significant advantages in terms of materials, design, process and system. With the standardization of large size silicon wafers, solar cells, and module sizes, the industry chain will achieve a better scale effect, improve production efficiency, and reduce the cost of industrial chain manufacturing, photovoltaic system initial investment and LCOE of power generation. Through the unification of standards, the entire industry chain will work together to create higher-quality photovoltaic products, bring higher value to customers, and reduce the LCOE of power generation. This standardization initiative is of great significance to the photovoltaic industry and will lead the industry to a new level. 44 energetica INDIA- December_2020 SOLAR POWER