Sunrise Global Solar Energy, Ltd., a Taiwan-based manufacturer of photovoltaic products, announced that it has successfully commenced mass production on its newly installed, monocrystalline cell line.
This is the company’s first facility. It is located in Yilan, Taiwan, and has an initial manufacturing capacity of up to 40 megawatts (MW) annually. If scaled to full capability, the company said the facility will have capacity to produce in excess of 240 MW annually.
"We have achieved cell efficiencies above 17.5% with our core technology, and we intend to continue to improve these levels as we ramp up our capabilities in the coming months," remarked Dr. Ximing Dai, Sunrise’s Chief Technical Officer.
In addition to the mass production of Sunrise’s core technology, the first manufacturing line in Yilan will be utilized as a pilot line and research and development centre for developing ultra-high efficiency cells. Sunrise intends to drive the efficiency of its monocrystalline cells beyond 20%.
According to PHOTON Consulting, a solar industry research and consulting firm, the global weighted average for crystalline cell efficiency was 15.2% in 2008.