Wednesday, August 26, 2009

China Solar Hype?

Keith Bradsher's piece in the New York Times yesterday (link here) suggests that China solar panel makers are going to take over the US market even as the US federal government subsidizes investment in solar energy. He makes the good point that some of these Chinese solar panel operators are heavily government supported i.e. subsidized, but there are some reasons not to count out US competitors just yet. While the Chinese use crystalline silicon to make their panels, the world's largest solar module maker, Arizona's First Solar, uses thin film technology to remain the world's cheapest panel maker per KWH.
Meanwhile EE Times has suggested that Centron Solar will provide the organization that links disparate Chinese solar panel makers to its own sales operation in the US (link here). However, there are questions about Centron's scale as a company and how many panel makers it actually represents (link here).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Currently, a new Chinese start-up company based in Eugene, Oregon(Centron Solar,) claim to be the second manufacturer to make PV modules which operate in positive torrents only (0-5%).

Centron Solar provide 2 solar panels at the moment.

CS-175-DJ - 175 Watt Panel
CS-180-DJ- 180 Watt Panel
http://www.centronsolar.com/index.php?action=products.prod_overview

In reality, these model numbers have been altered from their undisclosed Chinese manufacturer Changzhou NESL Solartech. Centron Solar, however, claim to be representing a consortium of over 30 manufacturers. This is false, and the models above are the exact same as NESL Solartech's models below.

DJ-175D
DJ-180D
http://www.nesl.cn/Product.asp?Action=View&ProductID=71&Catalog=0

Although NESL's website says their panels yield a power output of +/-3%, Centron Solar falsely advertise positive torrent only (0-5%.)

Also, Centron Solar's 220W module- CS-P-220-JT- is either from Jiangyin Jetion Science and Technology- JT220(30)P1655×992- or from Topoint Photovoltaic Technology - JT-220P-60-
Topoint Photovoltaic Technology- http://topoint.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008829455693/pdtl/Solar-panel/1014025854/Solar-Panel.htm

Anonymous said...

Actually, Centron requires all manufacturer's they work with to create panels specifically FOR Centron. All manufacturers must supply Centron with panels of Centron's specifications, including positive tolerance. Also, I see similar information posted all over the web about Centron, so it's pretty clear it is coming from the same source. I would suggest getting your facts correct before making slanderous claims.