Thursday, January 21, 2010

The future of PV manufacturing between China & Germany

The current issue of neue energie (disclaimer: Petite Planète translates the English issue) contains an interesting article (see "Made in China") about Chinese PV manufacturer Yingli. While there has been some discussion over here in Germany about predatory pricing and a lack of environmental and labor standards in China, the German magazine has words of praise for Yingli, which it finds to be perhaps the most modern manufacturer of all. On one particular production line, the author reads the manufacturer labels (my translation):

Rena, Manz, Centrotherm, Roth & Rau, Baccini – all highly regarded names in photovoltaics, and all manufacturers from Europe

Perhaps this is the market we are moving to -- more and more finished products (solar modules and possibly the solar cells contained therein) from China, but Chinese manufacturers may continue to use production lines developed in Europe.

The English edition of the article may be made available online in a month or two; the German article will probably go on line once the next issue is published.

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