Definition of No. Known Customers:
ENF has a PV market research department that conducts expert interviews through the telephone with over 1,000 solar ingot, wafer, cell and panel manufacturers each year, which is clearly better coverage than any other research firm. We collect a great deal of detailed data from each company for our market research reports – including details of what solar production equipment their factory uses and what material brands they use. We also co-operate with equipment and material companies to understand who their customers are – but those customers are only counted officially when the ingot/wafer/cell/panel manufacturer themselves have confirmed usage of that brand.
So the number showing is the number of ingot/wafer/cell/panel manufacturers that have clearly stated to us that they use that equipment or material brand. We are not saying that this is the absolute total number of customers they have – however it is a helpful indicator of the size/popularity of the brand. Finally it should be mentioned that the majority of companies we interview tell us what equipment and materials brands they use, so these numbers are based on excellent coverage of the market.
