OPES has been awarded the prestigious „SNEC Top 10 Highlights Award“ for design & construction of an „Adaptive Production Line for Off-Grid Solar Modules with Dynamic Changeover & Short Setup Times“.
As OPES is not an equipment manufacturer but a specialized solar module producer for OEM customers, winning in this category shows their determination in the Off-Grid market, a niche in the solar industry. “To build automation specifically for the Off-Grid market is key in this sector to succeed and fulfill cost-down and quality requirements within highly flexible production”, says Robert Händel, CEO of the OPES Group.
The layout of the manufacturing line builds on the experience of several previous customized manufacturing lines
Drawing on 13 years of manufacturing experience with a throughput of more than 10 million customized solar modules, OPES Automation Department advanced from line Generation 1—covering a module range from 5-20Watt with 4–6 hours changeover time—to Generation 2.3. This fully automated line covers a range of 2–25 Watt. The high flexibility enables OPES to switch 40% faster between product types compared to Generation 1 in the demanding Off-Grid market, where a high range of products is combined with fluctuating demand between them. The production capacity of Generation 2.3 has also significantly increased by 31% – with a yield rate exceeding 98.5%.
In this newly developed production line labor intensive manual mechanical fixture positioning at change of product type has been replaced by a collaborative-robot with stored recipes for each product. This improves not only the speed during product change, but also sets solar cell-string alignment and soldering joints correctly right from the restart of the line without needing re-adjustments.
As the customized off-grid solar sector grows, a high degree of automation is Must
In 2024, 9.3 million Off-Grid Solar Home Systems were sold, and achieving universally affordable energy access requires still a scale up to 1 Billion people living off-the-grid globally. Additionally, Smart City Applications such as Solar Streetlights, Share-Bikes and Solar Traffic Signs continue to grow every year, with distinct form factors and durability requirements. Only flexible automation such as OPES demonstrates with their Generation 2.3 flexible inline solution for small customized modules reduces reliance on manual labor, raises yield, and improves material utilization and quality. This brings system costs into the affordability range which is needed. OPES will continue to shape the future of the Off-Grid-Solar industry with innovation in manufacturing, products and supporting industries introducing solar as a key component for energy supply – Right where it´s needed.