JA Solar and SITP to set up PV Research Center

On 9 May 12, JA Solar announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish a center for research and innovation in solar technology. Under the terms of the partnership agreement, JA Solar and the SITP will work together to establish and operate the Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Innovation, which will be located at JA Solar’s R&D facility in Yangzhou, China. The center will focus on developing and commercializing new technologies that improve solar cell conversion efficiency. Founded in 1958, the SITP is recognized as one of the leading research institutes in the fields of optoelectronics and photovoltaic technology in China. Its more than 500 researchers have a particular expertise in infrared optoelectronics and new infrared photoelectric materials. JA Solar has worked closely with the SITP over the past two years to develop new crystalline silicon technologies, a partnership that has yielded particularly encouraging results in optical absorption in nanostructures.