India’s Gautam Solar is expanding its solar module production capacity to 1 GW by adding a 500 MW tunnel-oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) manufacturing line from Jinchen. The new line will start production by September.

Image: Gautam Solar

Indian manufacturer Gautam Solar is adding a 500 MW of TOPCon module production line, bringing its total panel production capacity to 1 GW. The line will start operations by September.

Gautam Solar will procure the fully automated, n-type TOPCon production line from Jinchen. The supply deal between the two companies was signed at SNEC, 16th International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference and Exhibition.

TOPCon is an advanced solar module production technology. It features a thin tunneling oxide layer on an n-type silicon substrate, followed by a layer of highly doped polysilicon and passivated contacts. The tunnel oxide layer enables charge carriers to pass through with minimal recombination losses, while the passivated contacts reduce surface recombination. This technology improves solar module efficiency and reduces panel degradation over time.

N-type TOPCon cells can produce up to 30% more power than conventionally used p-type PERC cells.