{"id":100884,"date":"2023-01-10T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/?p=100884"},"modified":"2023-01-10T11:14:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T16:14:43","slug":"downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets
2023 Trends in Solar<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel sizes. It was generally understood that 60-cell solar panels were made for the residential market, while 72-cell panels were used in commercial and utility-scale applications. The larger solar panels had two extra rows of cells, making them longer and more powerful for bigger projects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Seraphim company SEG Solar displayed the two differing wafer sizes at the RE+ tradeshow in 2022. The 675-W panel on the left uses the largest 210-mm wafer size, while the 455-W module on the right uses 182-mm.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, the global market has moved to larger cell sizes, which has in turn increased the size of solar panels. That wouldn\u2019t be an issue if each company used the same-size cell, but the industry has split into two main cell-size camps that lead to inconsistencies in final module sizes \u2014 one company\u2019s 72-cell panel is not the same size as another\u2019s if cell sizes differ by 30 millimeters.<\/p>\n

The two new main wafer sizes<\/a> that have dominated the market are the M10 (182-mm) and G12 (210-mm). LONGi Solar is the leading M10 wafer supplier, and JinkoSolar, JA Solar and Qcells have signed on to the 182-mm camp. Chinese silicon wafer supplier Zhonghuan Semiconductor is championing the larger G12 size, and supporters of the 210-mm wafer include Trina Solar, REC and Maxeon.<\/p>\n

The industry\u2019s new sizes are influencing how panel companies market their models, said Thomas Koerner, corporate VP of global sales for modules with Canadian Solar, a manufacturer that is using both of the larger wafer sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur naming convention has moved away from using terms like \u201872-cell panels.\u2019 We refer to them by power class,\u201d he said. \u201cOur customers use the power class and size\/efficiency when ordering.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no longer confined to standard sizing, companies do still follow certain guidelines. For example, solar panels used primarily in the residential market are influenced by labor and weight limitations in the United States, Koerner noted. But customers make the final decision on the optimal type of solar panel for each project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are agnostic with our residential and utility-scale modules. If residential customers want to use larger-format modules, we are technically capable to design and make [them] available,\u201d Koerner said. \u201cWe define our sizes to work best for our customers for optimum power, efficiency and reliability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Credit: ITRPV<\/p><\/div>\n

The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV<\/a>) report already shows the larger M10 and G12 wafers holding over 50% of the market and expects the two largest wafers to be the only size options by 2032, with, of course, the opportunity to go even bigger.<\/p>\n

Although product names and dimensions are changing, software makes designing projects easy for installers turning to bigger solar panels. Aurora Solar\u2019s<\/a> 3D layout tool can handle any-size module, and CEO Chris Hopper said the company pulls module dimensions and electrical specifications from data sheets throughout the year. The software handles the rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstallers can take advantage of the global component libraries in both Aurora and HelioScope, where several thousand (1,700 and 2,400, respectively) modules have been added in the last year alone,\u201d he said. \u201cThere’s no need to manually import dozens of parameters, and if we don’t have the module in our database, our teams will add it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bigger modules are here to stay, and industry players are making the transition simple for installation crews.<\/p>\n

\n

This story is part of SPW’s 2023 Trends in Solar. Read all of this year’s trends here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel sizes. It was generally understood that 60-cell solar panels were made for the residential market, while 72-cell panels were used in commercial and utility-scale applications.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":100203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5119,5121,3004,2650,5118,4787,5120],"tags":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post","14":"entry","15":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDownstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar Power World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarPowerWorld\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-10T13:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-10T16:14:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelly Pickerel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solarkellyp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SolarPowerWorld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly Pickerel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/\",\"name\":\"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-10T13:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-10T16:14:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/6f941a69e40d7cb71df74979910822c6\"},\"description\":\"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg\",\"width\":770,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Credit: SunCommon\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/\",\"name\":\"Solar Power World\",\"description\":\"Covering the world of solar power technology, development and installation.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/6f941a69e40d7cb71df74979910822c6\",\"name\":\"Kelly Pickerel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b49df95db1aa5f32aa6263152ba8ceda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b49df95db1aa5f32aa6263152ba8ceda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelly Pickerel\"},\"description\":\"Kelly Pickerel has over a decade of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarPowerWorld\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarpowerworld\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kellypickerel\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/solarkellyp\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/author\/kpickerel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets","description":"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets","og_description":"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel","og_url":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/","og_site_name":"Solar Power World","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarPowerWorld\/","article_published_time":"2023-01-10T13:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-10T16:14:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":770,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kelly Pickerel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@solarkellyp","twitter_site":"@SolarPowerWorld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelly Pickerel","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/","url":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/","name":"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-10T13:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-10T16:14:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/6f941a69e40d7cb71df74979910822c6"},"description":"It\u2019s not often that one looks at the early years of the solar industry with nostalgia, but it was at least a time that had some consistency in solar panel","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/solar-install-stock-credit-suncommon.jpg","width":770,"height":500,"caption":"Credit: SunCommon"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/\/2023\/01\/downstream-players-adapt-to-irregular-panel-sizes-entering-all-markets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Downstream players adapt to irregular panel sizes entering all markets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/\/#website","url":"https:\/\/\/","name":"Solar Power World","description":"Covering the world of solar power technology, development and installation.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/6f941a69e40d7cb71df74979910822c6","name":"Kelly Pickerel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b49df95db1aa5f32aa6263152ba8ceda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b49df95db1aa5f32aa6263152ba8ceda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelly Pickerel"},"description":"Kelly Pickerel has over a decade of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World.","sameAs":["https:\/\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarPowerWorld\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarpowerworld\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kellypickerel\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solarkellyp"],"url":"https:\/\/\/author\/kpickerel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}