New Sales at ReneSola; Canadian Solar Passes PID Test

ReneSola is already one of the top suppliers of modules to Australia, Belgium and Greece. The company has so far made about 40MW in shipments to Australia

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ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL), one of the leading Chinese solar wafer and module manufacturers, has announced that it has sold 5.95MW in solar modules to Solargain. The former is an Australian solar distributer and supplier that has been operating in the country for about eight years and has one of the most extensive distribution networks spread all across the Australian continent.

ReneSola is already one of the top suppliers of modules to Australia, Belgium and Greece. The company has so far made about 40MW in shipments to Australia. About two weeks ago, it announced a 100MW contract with Greece-based Big Solar. Although the current Solargain sale is about 16 times smaller than Big Solar’s, ReneSola is hopeful that it might make more shipments to Solargain in the “near future.”

Accordingly, ReneSola will supply 250W in Virtus modules to Solargain. Big Solar’s 100MW sale was also for the same modules. Earlier this month, the business revised its solar wafer and module shipment target upwards from 1.8-2.0GW to 2.2-2.4GW. The company has already shown a 14% growth over the first quarter of the current year.

The business’s CEO, Mr. Xianshou Li, said, “This is another demonstration of the ever-increasing market recognition of our superior products, including our Virtus products, and the strength of our technology and investments in research and development.” The Virtus 250W modules are already available through Solargain’s website. Besides ReneSola, Solargain is also supplying SunPower’s (NASDAQ: SPWR) E19 Series / 318W modules and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) monocrystalline, medium-format modules.

In the meantime, as ReneSola was announcing the success of its high-efficiency modules, Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world’s biggest solar PV manufacturers, has announced that its modules are free of Potential Induced Degradation (PID). The announcement came after the company’s products have passed two high voltage endurance tests conducted by Photovoltaic Institute (PI) Berlin and PV Evolution Labs. This would make Canadian Solar the only module manufacturer in the world that has passed more than one test.

Both the PI Berlin and PV Evolution Labs have tested CS6-poly-series modules, while PV Evolution Labs have also conducted a successful test on CS5-mono-series modules. In PID testing, the solar module’s performance and output is measured after it is exposed to high system voltages. The tests found that the company’s modules were still higher than 98% after they had gone through the 1,000 volts endurance test.  Canadian Solar was still not entirely satisfied and asked PI Berlin to double the level of endurance. The modules were able to pass the stress test and showed “very little further degradation.”

Dr. Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar, said, "Such tests provide an important measure of orientation to our customers. The results demonstrate that they can count on the high quality of our products." The CEO believes that his company is offering the “most advanced and highest quality products.” Canadian Solar is confident about its products, which is the primary reason why the company is actively promoting testing standards for the solar industry.