Major Solar Manufacturing Plant Expansion in China to Utilize Despatch’s Safire Firing Furnaces

Despatch Industries has received a purchase order for several Safire firing furnaces which will be used in a 2GW expansion of LERRI Solar Technology’s manufacturing capacity. LERRI Solar is a manufacturer of high-efficiency mono crystalline cells and modules in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China.The Safire firing furnace features dual, independent chambers with no lane-to-lane influences. This unique design ensures the greatest degree of firing repeatability and capability for cell efficiency optimization in a high capacity platform. The Safire now features PowerLock technology which suppresses LID on PERC cells from 3-6% down to ~1%. The system is integrated into the Safire resulting in a small footprint and no material handling.

“Despatch is a global leading supplier for advanced thermal solutions,” said Mr. Piao Songyuan (Steven Piao) – Vice GM of Lerri Solar Taizhou. “The cooperation between Longi/Lerri solar and Despatch will bring benefits to both parties significantly.” Piao believes that the twin-chamber design of Safire provides a bigger process window than the conventional single chamber dual lane firing furnace. He is looking forward to seeing how Safire is going to contribute to their PERC cell productions.

“LERRI Solar needed a dual lane firing furnace capable of processing highly-efficient PERC cells,” said Lene Li, Despatch Industries Solar Sales Manager. “The Safire, with independent control of each lane and Microzone profile flexibility proved to be the best solution for them.”

LERRI Solar is wholly owned by Xi’an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp. which is the largest solar monocrystalline silicon manufacturer in the world providing high quality products and services for the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries around the world. The company currently has 4.5Gw wafer, 400mw cell and 1.5 Gw module manufacturing capacity with an aggressive growth plan.