Canadian Solar (CSIQ) just announced that it will open a new research center in China. The opening of the center will mark the start of a 4 year research program, with the goal of raising solar cell conversion efficiencies and reducing production costs, to help solar power compete with conventional power. The company has arranged research partnerships with Dupont, the University of Toronto and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar’s Chairman and CEO, commented on the new facility and the research program:

“CSI is now executing a four-year cell efficiency research program that will lead to better products and lower costs. Both the solar-grade cells for our e-Modules and regular silicon cells can benefit from this research. The program objective is to significantly improve our cell conversion efficiency. Our goal is to bring our average cell efficiency for polysilicon monocrystalline cells to 18.5% and solar grade cells to 15.5% within 12 months. In this effort, we are proud to partner with some of the world’s leading R&D organizations including DuPont, University of Toronto and Shanghai Jiao Tong University and look forward to jointly exploring new materials and manufacturing methods in order to better our efficiency and product development.”