Trina Solar initiates legal action against Runergy on TOPCon patents

Trina Solar has initiated legal action against Runergy for unauthorized use of Trina’s TOPCon solar cell technology patents.

“Legal action protects the integrity of Trina’s TOPCon technology,” said Steven Zhu, president of Trina Solar US. “At Trina, we embrace the power to safeguard our innovations and actively pursue those who compromise our intellectual property.”

Trina Solar says it owns over 2,000 patents, including a significant number of core TOPCon technology patents. Trina filed its patent infringement complaint against Runergy USA/Runergy Alabama in the U.S. District Court of Delaware. Runergy has allegedly been using Trin’as patented TOPCon manufacturing process in China and Thailand for panels under the Hyperion brand name, and plans to use the technology in panels manufactured at its new factory setting up in Alabama.

“We take pride in our portfolio of patents and welcome conversations with U.S. partners who follow the correct process for using the patented technology,” said Zhu. “Our technology advancements and intellectual property, in addition to Trina’s compliant supply chain, are keys to success for solar manufacturing in the U.S. Trina’s 5-GW facility in Texas is coming online this year.”

The patents under question are Nos. 9,722,104 and 10,230,009; both entitled “Solar cell and method for manufacturing the same.”

Maxeon has also been protecting its intellectual property related to TOPCon manufacturing, recently filing patent infringement claims against Canadian Solar, REC and Qcells.