13 July 2011
ReneSola Ltd. today announced that it began shipments of its Virtus wafers and modules in June 2011.
An aggregate total of approximately 54.8 megawatts (MW) of Virtus wafers and 20MW of Virtus modules, which are manufactured using Virtus wafers, were shipped to a number of ReneSola's top customers in Europe. Virtus wafer production is now operating at an annual capacity of 900MW and intends to reach 1.8 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2011.
The Virtus wafer was introduced in January 2011 and is regarded as a very efficient wafer. ReneSola offers a higher grade V-Grade Virtus wafer, which achieves cell conversion efficiency rates of 17.5% to 18.2%, as well as a lower grade M-Grade Virtus wafer, which achieves cell conversion efficiency rates of 16.7% to 17.0%. These high rates of efficiency are established at the wafer level prior to the cell manufacturing process, which can further increase the efficiency rate. ReneSola's Virtus modules can generate up to 250 watts (W) of power.
The 54.8MW of Virtus wafer shipments are comprised of ~22.7MW of V-Grade Virtus wafers and 32.1MW of M-Grade Virtus wafers, while the 20MW of Virtus Module shipments were fully comprised of V-Grade Virtus wafers.
ReneSola is currently in the process of applying for 10 patents related to the Virtus wafer and module, and is also applying for trademark protection in several countries.
