During the pv magazine organised Roundtables Europe 2022, the key issues of photovoltaic and energy storage technology were debated by industry professionals from LONGi, PI Berlin, the Austrian National Institute of Technology (AIT) and the European EPC Belectric. In a session entitled ‘Module design choices, reliability and revenue expectations’, the group discussed issues including whether there is an optimal module size in terms of reliability and LCOE and how to select reliable photovoltaic modules.
The experts pointed out during the session that one of the most important indicators for module selection is reliability, with power generation also playing a vital role. These two factors are directly related to asset owners enjoying a stable and reliable return on investment during a power plant’s entire life cycle. According to Christoph Mayr of AIT, ‘higher module current means more internal losses, leading to loss of power generation.’ Djaber Berrian of Belectric commented that ‘the M10 module has obvious advantages in BOS cost compared to its M6 predecessor, but there is only a very slight difference between M10 and G12 modules, which needs to be comprehensively considered according to specific project scenarios.’ Finally, all of the experts talked about how to provide high-quality, reliable panfiles. It was clear that the specialists, from different European industry sectors, each placed a high value on all aspects of module reliability.
LONGi senior product manager Jason Yan subsequently shared a report on optimal size module design. He stressed that bigger is not always better and module design should be driven by the need to withstand extreme climatic conditions, meaning that reliability is critical. LONGi’s Hi-MO 5 module, based on a 182mm silicon wafer, is the optimal size product when considering the value of the entire industrial chain and life cycle perspective. Hi-MO 5 combines excellent performance with reliability to maximize customer value and has been widely favoured by the industry over the last two years, with cumulative shipments now approaching 30GW.
According to PV InfoLink, the 182mm module will achieve a market share of 56% during 2022, placing it firmly in the mainstream, with LONGi and other leading manufacturers having collaborated to standardize the M10 module size. This approach has increased synchronization of the upstream and downstream sectors and facilitated system design, installation and customer selection.
The event concluded that, thanks to the efforts of leading module manufacturers, including LONGi, the PV industry’s perspective on module size is becoming more rational. The industry realizes that module size is a systemic issue, with 182mm modules incorporating numerous boundary constraints. As the market share of the M10 module grows, the advantages for the industrial chain will become more evident, allowing the whole industry to return its focus to the main theme of technological innovation.
