Apr 24, 2009 19:01
Motonobu Kawai, Nikkei Microdevices
"The spot price of silicon materials in China will drop to US$50/kg within 2009," said Dylen Liu of JL McGregor & Company, a research firm in China.
He delivered a speech on the Chinese solar cell industry at Solar Cell Market Seminar 2009 hosted by Nikkei Market Access with help from Nikkei Microdevices in Japan.
In his speech, Liu introduced recent drops in the spot price of polycrystalline silicon materials in China. The price was more than US$350/kg until October 2008 but dropped by half in November 2008, being hit by the financial crisis and other issues. And it continued to fall to less than US$80/kg in April 2009.
Liu forecast that the spot price will further decline to US$50/kg within 2009. And he calculated the manufacturing cost of a crystalline silicon solar cell module when the price of polycrystalline silicon materials is US$50/kg. The cost will be US$1.1 to 1.2/W at vertically integrated solar cell manufacturers in China, he said.
On the other hand, the manufacturing cost of a thin-film silicon solar cell module will be US$1 to 2 per watt at average Chinese solar cell manufacturers, Liu said. The manufacturing costs of the two types of solar cell modules are getting closer to each other due to the decreasing polycrystalline silicon material price.
At First Solar Inc, a US solar cell manufacturer that is a leader in cost reduction, the manufacturing cost of the CdTe type solar cell module was US$0.98/W as of the fourth quarter of 2008.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
JA Solar starts construction of new integrated solar cell plant
22 April 2009
JA Solar Holdings has broken ground on its Phase II, ingot, cell and module facility in Yangzhou, China. According to Chinese news reports, the production plant will cost approximately US$100 million and be completed by the end of 2009. The reports suggested the new plant would increase JA Solar’s production capacity by 300MW.
The new expansion project would seem to be inline with JA Solar’s planned capacity of 875MW by the end of 2009, up from 600MW in 2008. JA Solar claims a solar cell production line costs US$10 million, suggesting approximately 6-8 lines could be added.
JA Solar Holdings has broken ground on its Phase II, ingot, cell and module facility in Yangzhou, China. According to Chinese news reports, the production plant will cost approximately US$100 million and be completed by the end of 2009. The reports suggested the new plant would increase JA Solar’s production capacity by 300MW.
The new expansion project would seem to be inline with JA Solar’s planned capacity of 875MW by the end of 2009, up from 600MW in 2008. JA Solar claims a solar cell production line costs US$10 million, suggesting approximately 6-8 lines could be added.
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