Solar Love
  • Rooftop Solar
    • Energy Storage
  • Solar Panels
  • Policy
  • Research
    • Science
    • Market Research
    • Solar Perceptions & Polls

Solar Love

  • Rooftop Solar
    • Energy Storage
  • Solar Panels
  • Policy
  • Research
    • Science
    • Market Research
    • Solar Perceptions & Polls
New TechnologyPVScienceSolar ModulesSolar PV ManufacturingSolar Research

Yingli Makes Advancements In Monocrystalline Ingot Formation

by Zach August 15, 2014
written by Zach August 15, 2014
Yingli Makes Advancements In Monocrystalline Ingot Formation

Yingli Solar* is the largest solar module manufacture in the world. Based in China, it often receives blanket criticisms of Chinese companies, such as people claiming that Chinese companies don’t innovate. To assume that the multi-billion-dollar leader of the extremely fast-growing and fast-changing solar energy market is not innovating seems naive at best, and downright prejudiced or conniving at worst.

Logo_Yingli_Solar

A recent announcement from Yingli Solar highlights one of the many innovations the company is working on. The company announced one week ago that it had “completed trial production of monocrystalline ingots using new material technology.” The use of the new material could bring down solar manufacturing costs by $0.01 per watt.

“Instead of using traditional graphite crucibles when pulling monocrystalline ingots, the Company experimented with crucibles made from a carbon-carbon (C-C) composite material,” Yingli Solar writes. “While graphite crucibles are currently the most commonly used type of crucible in monocrystalline ingot formation, they are known to have low strength, short lifetimes, and a high risk of silicon leakage because the crucibles are prone to cracking during the heating process. C-C composite crucibles are not as vulnerable to these risks because they are made from a reinforced carbon fiber matrix that is low-density, high-strength, with high thermal conductivity, thermal shock resistance, and dimensional stability. Transitioning to C-C composite crucibles will reduce the per-unit cost of furnace crucibles, improve the stability of crystal pulling, and increase the utilization rate of monocrystalline silicon ingots by approximately 3%.”

This is not a world-shattering breakthrough, but it’s also not a useless “breakthrough” (the kind we read so much about these days) and is the kind of incremental improvement that helps to keep Yingli’s solar modules cheaper than the pack.

*Full Disclosure: I’m happy to own stock in Yingli Solar.

Monocrystalline Ingot FormationMonocrystalline Ingotssolar ingotsyingli solar
0 comment
0
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Zach

is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.

previous post
6 Energy Finance Winners Chosen At Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit
next post
$300 Million For Solar Power and Energy Efficiency in California

You may also like

India’s NTPC Offers Solar Project Management Services To...

June 9, 2019

Neighborhood Power Installing 10 Megawatt Solar Bifacial+Tracker Project...

November 20, 2018

EDF Renewables Commissions 110 Megawatts Of Solar In...

October 30, 2018

Maui Switches On Another 2.87 Megawatts Of Solar...

October 8, 2018

Capital Dynamics Acquires 121 Megawatt Springbok 3 Solar...

September 27, 2018

EnSync Energy Sells CAL FIRE Solar PPA Project...

August 20, 2018

India Sees Highest-Ever Quarterly Solar Addition

April 30, 2018

As Solar Bids Firm Up, Indian State Cancels...

April 24, 2018

Solar+Storage Project Awarded In India’s Andaman Islands

April 23, 2018

New Manufacturing Techniques Could Lower The Cost Of...

April 17, 2018

Follow Me

Facebook

Recent Posts

  • Meet PVCase: A 3D Solar Design Software That Every PV Designer Should Consider

    June 12, 2019
  • Mitsui To Partner With Indian Company For Distributed Solar Projects

    June 10, 2019
  • India’s NTPC Offers Solar Project Management Services To ISA Members

    June 9, 2019
  • Equinor & Scatec Solar Complete 162 Megawatt Brazilian Solar Plant

    November 29, 2018
  • Gamesa Awarded 400 Megawatt Solar Project In Egypt

    November 29, 2018
  • Facebook

@2019 - All Right Reserved solarlove.org


Back To Top