Fruits of Investment

Hanwha Q Cells plant in Malaysia.
Hanwha Q Cells plant in Malaysia.

 

On April 12, Hanwha Q Cells USA signed a purchase agreement with 1366 Technologies, a U.S. venture firm in which it has invested for six years. According to the agreement, Hanwha Q Cells USA is to be supplied with direct wafers equivalent to 700 MW for five years from 2017.

The direct wafers were developed by Hanwha Q Cells and 1366 Technologies by the application of quantum cell technology. The wafers have a power generation efficiency of 19.1%, a high-efficiency level, and they have been vouched for by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany.

The agreement is particularly noteworthy in that the commercialization process according to it is based on a novel technique with which one step can be removed from existing wafer production processes. In general, the existing methods have the five steps of polysilicon, ingot, wafer, cell and module production. However, the ingot stage is removed in direct wafer production. Since liquid silicone is turned directly into wafers, without being hardened to become ingots, the material loss, production period and production cost can be reduced at the same time. According to 1366 Technologies, the technique can reduce wafer production costs by approximately 54%. Hanwha Q Cells is planning to improve its productivity by means of these highly economical wafers. 

In the meantime, Hanwha Q Cells USA recently recorded its first annual surplus in a year since its listing on NASDAQ. Hanwha Q Cells is going to increase its cell and module production capacity by 0.9 GW to 5.2 GW by the middle of this year by making use of its successful business performance in the North American market.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution