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Survival of the fittest Power Insider Asia caught up with Trina Solar to find out about their outlook and strategy following the damning ‘anti dumping’ measures brought into play by the EU last month. The measures are forcing many executives from Chinese companies to rethink business models, and we wanted to find out how much of an impact these enforcements are going to have on one of China’s finest. The Chinese solar industry has experienced a uniquely turbulent growth since its inception, and following exponential global dominance has reached a crucial period, as the vibrant solar export market has been hit with a series of strategic levelling tactics from governments throughout Europe and the United States. These ‘anti-dumping’ measures are going to hit some household names over the next year in a devastating manner with some feeling the pinch more others. The world’s biggest panel manufacturer, Suntech Holdings, has been one of the first victims to spectacularly collapse, just a year on from reaching the production podium. In these challenging times, contingency and consolidation is vital. Recognizing these needs, one Chinese manufacturer is adapting in admirable fashion, restructuring according to global economic pressure, diversifying regional sales focus and optimizing its business model. That company is Trina Solar. Trina Solar were incorporated in 1997 and have since grown to become a major international force, presently offering annual ingot and wafer production capacities of 1,200 MW and white cell and module capacity of 2,400 MW. Despite the countervailing duty tariffs, they remain committed to serving customers in Europe, but are seeing strong sequential shipment growth in Japan and India, two of the most important emerging markets for the PV industry.
36 POWER INSIDER MAY / JUN 2013
Manufacturing Trina Solar’s manufacturing facility site is located in Changzhou, China. Careful research, development and manufacturing of ingots, wafers, cells and modules is conducted at these facilities in the same compound, where the main campus site area occupies approximately 545k square meters. This integrated manufacturing model has enabled Trina to better control cost, quality, yield, product development and cycle time, which all contributed to creating world-class quality modules and success on the global stage. The high efficiency ‘Honey’ Product Lines and State Key laboratory are located in the North East and South East campus areas. Extending beyond the in-house vertically integrated business model, Trina Solar took an important step with regards to supply chain management through the establishment of the Trina PV Park in 2008. The park covers approximately 5.12 square kilometers. Drawn by the strong growth and the sustainable value of Trina Solar, some of Trina’s key strategic suppliers and business partners have co-located their manufacturing facilities in the park, which enhance the benefits of the cluster effect along the value chain. Formula for success Trina Solar have seen considerable success in the residential, commercial and utility markets with tailored products for each application.
The company has been a pioneer for a range of high-efficiency monocrystalline and multicrystalline modules, coloured modules for architectural applications and larger sized modules for on grid utility scale systems. The cutting-edge Honey Cell Processing was recently introduced to offer advanced cell texturing, metallization, and optical materials. The advanced cell texturing techniques have enabled Honey products to set a world output record of 284.7Wp output for a 60-cell module, making the technology a perfect partner for rooftops and other space governed installations. In 2011 Trina Solar also released the new ‘Comax’ cell-powered modules. ‘Comax ‘cells have 4.2% more surface area to capture more sunlight, and a significantly higher number of embedded gridlines to enable better electron flow. ‘Comax’ modules can achieve efficiencies of up to 15.2% and outputs of up to 195kW yield. These advances are some of the benchmarks reached by Trina products from a performance perspective, ratified by certification from the likes of TÜV Rheinland, UL and CGC. This global competence really signals the true quality that these Chinese products can offer despite the negative perception offered by certain industry quarters. A new frame design across the full range of 72cell monocrystalline and 60-cell polycrystalline