Trina Solar Co., Ltd. ("Trina Solar" or the "Company"), a leading global PV and smart energy total solution provider, today officially unveiled a new generation of ultra-high power Vertex modules with a single panel power of up to 670W. The series has obtained the IEC certification from TÜV Rheinland after passing complete reliability tests, and realized mass production. This marks an even higher milestone in the PV 6.0 era and demonstrates that 600W+ is unstoppable in the future.
According to Dr. Zhang Yingbin, Trina Solar's head of product strategy and marketing department, the 670W Vertex series inherits the non-destructive cutting, high-density interconnection and other high-precision technologies of the 210mm modules. With the ultra-high module power, the single string power is up to 34% higher than that of other 500W+ modules in the industry. In addition, 670W Vertex modules maximize the container space utilization in transportation, as a result of which the loaded power increases by 12% and installation cost decrease by 5-7%, creating more room for reduction of LCOE and BOS cost .
The 670W Vertex modules inherit the four 210 key technologies
As a type of 210mm module, Trina Solar's 670W Vertex features non-destructive cutting, high-density interconnection, multi-busbar (MBB) and other forward-looking innovative technologies, with low voltage, high string power and other core features, presenting efficient and reliable product performance. The MBB and high-density interconnection improve module efficiency to up to 21.6%, while the non-destructive cutting pioneered by Trina Solar significantly reduces the chance of cell micro cracking and power loss.
Leading Advantages, 34% higher power generation
Increasing single string power is the core factor to reduce BOS cost. At the launch of the 670W Vertex, Dr. Zhang Yingbin explained that in large-scale power plants, the 670W Vertex has 28 modules on each string (at -20°C). Compared to other 500W+ high-power modules in the industry, the 670W Vertex module achieves a total power of up to 18,760W per string, 34% higher than that of the 500W+ modules.
The 670W Vertex module is suitable for large-scale power plants, especially the low-cost power plants which are very sensitive to investment costs, because the 670W modules can reduce the non-silicon cost of wafers and cells for the upstream supply chain, and reduce the cost of trackers, pile foundations, cables and labor when looking downstream. Compared to other 500W+ modules in the industry, BOS cost savings are at least 0.08-0.09 yuan (0.01-0.012€) per watt, hence a significant overall advantage.
Complete reliability test, 12% cut in transportation cost and 5-7% cut in installation cost
At the launch conference, Trina Solar once again introduced the reliability of the 670W product in transportation and installation.
Packaging & Transportation
For 600W+ series products, Trina Solar introduced an innovative vertical packaging method, so that the width of the modules is no longer limited by the height of the container. Such packaging makes the best use of the container's internal capacity. Compared with the traditional ways, the power per container increases by 12%, which corresponds to a 12% cost reduction in transportation. In terms of safety, first of all, the factory packaging is completed by automatic equipment to ensure safety and efficiency. Secondly, during transportation, the module pallets are closely arranged inside the container, to avoid shaking; finally, stable and reliable transfer to the project site ensures safe delivery to the customers.
Installation
For the stage of unpacking and installation, Trina Solar provides simple and easy-to-use auxiliary tools with standard configuration, which can be used as the support of the box body to ensure the safety in the entire unpacking process. Many empirical studies have proven that 670W modules also support traditional installation methods. Meanwhile, the number of modules can be reduced by about 24% for multi-megawatt power plants thanks to the substantial increase in module power of over 100W per unit, reducing overall installation cost by 5% to 7%. In addition, Trina Solar has started to develop automatic installation machines, retaining only the delicate manual operations such as fastening screws. This will undoubtedly improve installation efficiency, reduce labor costs, and drive down LCOE.
Mechanical loading performance
The load capacity of Trina Solar's 670W modules has also been tested. On one hand, the optimized frame design and material selection prevents deformation even though the module area increases, and reduces the chance of micro cracks. On the other hand, the non-destructive cutting ensures that each cutting edge of the cell is smooth and crack-free. Owing to these measures, the loading capacity of the 670W Vertex module can adhere to the industry mainstream standard of 5400 Pa positive load and 2400 Pa negative load.
The entire industry chain, inverters, trackers, glass supply, is ready to embrace the PV 600W+ era
At the beginning of this year, Huawei, Si-Neng, and Sungrow launched inverters compatible with 600W+modules, and TBEA, GOODWE, Ginlong, Kstar, SMA and some other inverter manufacturers also announced their products compatible with high-power 210mm modules. Obviously, these 18.4A - 18.5A inverters will also be fully compatible with 670W modules.
Almost at the same time, eight world-leading PV tracker manufacturers - Arctech Solar, Array Technologies, GameChange Solar, IDEEMATEC, Nextracker, PVH, Soltec, TrinaTracker - announced trackers of full compatibility with 210mm ultra-high power modules.
In early March, glass manufacturers such as Xinyi, Flat, CNBM, Kibing and China Southern Glass also brought the news that they have broken through the bottleneck of width in PV glass raw materials production and started to fully adapt to the large-size 210 modules.
The 210mm modules, integrating high efficiency, high reliability, high power generation and low cost have been increasingly favored by the market, with tenders for large-size modules accounting for more than 78%. By the end of 2021, 210 module production capacity is expected to reach 120 GW across the industry. At Trina Solar, 210 modules will account for 70% to 80% of its overall shipments this year. As ultra-high power 600W+ modules are becoming an unstoppable trend in the PV industry, the industry will continue to deliver more support for the innovative 210 solutions both upstream and downstream.
Dr. Zhang Yingbin said, "As a leader in the industry, Trina Solar has been driven by innovation, reliable quality and customer value. The ultra-high power Vertex 670W module launched this time reveals higher feasibility in reducing BOS cost and LCOE, which will help achieve the renewable energy goals and accelerate the PV industry's pace to embrace the era of grid parity. This is of profound importance for China's PV industry to once again lead the world."
Image: https://bit.ly/3vi4llV
Caption: The new 670W Vertex modules inherit innovative 210mm key technologies, achieving up to 21.6% module efficiency.
Source: Trina Solar
About Trina Solar (688599. SH)
Founded in 1997, Trina Solar is the world leading PV and smart energy total solution provider. The company engages in PV products R&D, manufacture and sales; PV projects development, EPC, O&M; smart micro-grid and multi-energy complementary systems development and sales, as well as energy cloud-platform operation. In 2018, Trina Solar launched its Energy IoT brand, established the Trina Energy IoT Industrial Development Alliance together with leading enterprises and research institutes in China and around the world, and founded the New Energy IoT Industrial Innovation Center. With these actions, Trina Solar is committed to working with its partners to build the energy IoT ecosystem and develop an innovation platform to explore New Energy IoT, as it strives to be a leader in global intelligent energy. In June 2020, Trina Solar listed on the STAR Market of Shanghai Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.trinasolar.com.
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