Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL), an integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products, announced that it has pre-sold 100% and 75% of its first and second half 2008 targeted module production, respectively.
According to the company, these sales represent approximately 85% of its targeted module production of 200-210 megawatts (MW) for 2008.
The company also said it has now secured over 80% of its estimated silicon feedstock requirements for 2008. Through its established supply channels and proprietary in-house processes, Trina Solar says it continues to source up to 80% of its feedstock requirements from reclaimed silicon sources, resulting in cost savings of 30-50% over the spot market cost for virgin polysilicon.
For its 2009 planned module production of 400MW, the company claims to have secured approximately 60% of its total feedstock requirements.
Trina Solar also announced several operational milestones for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.
- 150MW integrated capacity achieved for ingot, wafer, cell and module production
- Successful ramp up of new cell production lines
- Increased in-house cell processing to over 75% for the Q4 2007 production
- Realized in-house cell efficiency rates of up to 17.0% (monocrystalline) and 15.6% (multicrystalline)
- Commenced commercial production of 220-watt multicrystalline-based modules
Trina Solar’s Chairman and CEO, Jifan Gao said, "Going forward, we will continue to focus on decreasing module manufacturing costs through additional gains in cell efficiencies, reduced polysilicon usage, and production scale advantages achieved by the execution of our technology roadmap."
The company says it plans to initiate production tests of 180 micron wafers and cells in the first half of the year, with goals to reduce thickness to 140 and 160 microns by 2010 for its mono- and multicrystalline-based cells, respectively. Cell efficiency rates are expected to reach approximately 19% and 18% by 2010 for mono- and multicrystalline-based cells, respectively, yielding module power to approximately 240-250 watts.
About Trina Solar Limited
Trina Solar Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd., is currently one of the few PV manufacturers that has developed a vertically integrated business model from the production of monocrystalline and multicrystalline ingots, wafers and cells to the assembly of high quality modules.
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