Almaden and Trina Solar inked a new strategic partnership agreement on June 26. Under this agreement, Almaden will supply 337.5 million square meters of the ultra-thin 1.6mm PV glass to Trina Solar during the period from June 2022 to December 2025. The value of this deal is estimated around RMB 7.425 billion (including tax). The news was first reported by other Chinese renewable energy news websites.
Almaden is the world’s first company to have achieved the mass production of the tempered 1.6mm PV glass. To further scale up output, it has recently added new furnaces and processing lines in China’s Anhui Province. This latest deal is also an indication that the market share of 1.6mm glass will grow rapidly in the future. Compared with the mainstream 2.0mm glass, the ultra-thin 1.6mm glass offers a 20% reduction in weight as well as a substantial cost advantage. Additionally, thinner glass is especially more suited for high-efficiency PV modules deployed in distributed generation projects. In sum, 1.6mm glass is of great significance to the PV industry with respect to cost savings and efficiency improvement.
Earlier in November 2020, Trina Solar placed an order with Almaden for 85 million square meters of PV glass. The supply period of this contract is set to end December 2022. At the time of signing, the contract was estimated to be worth RMB 2.1 billion (tax included). Hence, the signing of the new agreement this June shows that the relationship between Almaden and Trina Solar has gotten stronger. On the other hand, it is also worth noting that Almaden also offers whole PV modules and is thus a competitor of Trina.