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After the situation on the module market was very tense due to various problems, it now looks like a longer-term decline in prices. In the last few weeks, both standard modules and highly efficient modules have been traded for an average of one cent per watt less than at the end of last year. In concrete terms, standard modules currently cost 30 cents per watt and modules with an efficiency of more than 21 percent are traded for an average of 40 cents per watt, according to the online wholesaler for solar components PV Xchange.
Good prospects for further falling prices
Martin Schachinger, Managing Director of PV Xchange, sees module prices continuing to fall. In addition to the higher availability, especially from China after the official end of the zero-Covid policy of the government in Beijing, it is primarily the falling freight costs that are responsible for the fall in module prices. The recovering dollar exchange rate is also having a positive impact on prices. Effects such as slowly falling energy costs or polysilicon and wafer prices, which are in free fall, will reinforce the trend in the coming months,” says Martin Schachinger.
Trina loses patent battle against Q Cells
The module industry is currently giving itself trouble. Hanwha Q Cells and Trina Solar have fought a legal dispute over patent infringements before the Düsseldorf Regional Court, which Q Cells won. Trina has therefore announced that it will no longer deliver the affected modules with the PERC cells in Germany. “The manufacturer is now in the process of ramping up its production of products with Topcon cells and delivering replacement modules that are equipped with monocrystalline cells that are not affected by the lawsuit,” says Martin Schachinger. “Trina Solar promises that any delays in delivery will be within reasonable limits for the customers affected.”
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Further lawsuits are not excluded
That could not be the end of the lawsuits. “Many other Asian manufacturers who also use PERC technology are not yet involved in legal disputes with Hanwha Q Cells. I doubt that other major competitors such as JA Solar, Canadian Solar or Risen Energy will be spared this for a long time to come,” says Schachinger. Of course, this could also affect the availability and thus the prices of solar modules. (see below)
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