Jul 10, 2014 - The share of monocrystalline wafers in global wafer production is expected to grow to 35% by 2017 from 29%-30% in the past two years, thanks to improving efficiency and declining costs, NPD Solarbuzz says in a recent study.
At present mono wafers offer an absolute cell efficiency advantage of around 2%, but their price is typically 30% higher than that for multicrystalline wafers, the market research firm says. To change that ratio, monocrystalline wafer manufacturers are working hard to boost performance and cut costs. According to NPD Solarbuzz, the cost gap between mono and multicrystalline wafers in the future is to narrow thanks to the wider use of diamond wire sawing and the potential for wide-scale commercialisation of continuously-fed Czochralski (CCz) mono ingot growth, among other technology improvements.
In its Polysilicon and Wafer Supply Chain Quarterly Report, the market analyst also points to the increased industry focus on balance-of-systems (BOS) cost cuts as another factor supporting monocrystalline wafer production. After the significant drop in module prices in the past few years, saving on BOS and installation is becoming very important for solar project economics. The use of higher-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) modules based on monocrystalline technology allows installers to use less space, wiring and racking and also cut installation and maintenance expenses.
In 2007 monocrystalline and multicrystalline wafers each accounted for about 50% of wafer production. By 2014, however, multi wafers boosted their share to 70% thanks to efficiency gains, the result of improved crystallisation techniques, and cost reductions, due to the use of larger ingots and other technologies. NPD Solarbuzz believes that the efficiency advances for high-efficiency multi wafers may start to slow as crystallisation improvements are widely realised.
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