Germany’s remaining module makers have had a hard few years, squeezed by imports that sell for far less than local production costs. Soluxtec gave the sector a rare piece of good news on 5 November, announcing that its factory has restarted production.
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The restart follows a comprehensive technical upgrade of the existing line. The factory has switched from the M10 wafers it used before to the larger G12 format, and its modules are now built with TOPCon cells. Soluxtec will sell this new generation as the GT series, while the established product name remains in the range. Production will be increased gradually over the coming weeks, and the company says its priority for now is to get processes stable and quality consistent.
182 mm to 210 mm
M10 and G12 are two of the industry’s standard wafer formats, measuring 182 mm and 210 mm along each edge. The step up increases wafer area by about a third, which raises module power and lowers balance-of-system costs per watt, since a plant needs fewer modules, strings and mounting structures per megawatt. The trade-offs are larger, heavier modules and higher string currents, and higher string currents, which call for suitably rated inverters and other components. TOPCon is now the mainstream cell technology, having displaced PERC with mass-production efficiencies more than one percentage point higher.
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Technology and industrial partner RONMA is contributing expertise in research and development, solar cell technology, procurement and production optimisation, and its specialists have joined the German team to refine manufacturing processes.
Proximity as selling point
Soluxtec plans to grow sales of the GT series and its established modules in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France for residential and C&I. The company says the next phase is about developing production further, as well as availability, deliveries and partnerships. It has not given the capacity of the upgraded line. (TF)
