Featured in Embracing change – 02-2024

Thin prospects

The production of PV ingots and wafers remains the most highly concentrated of all the production stages in the silicon solar supply chain. Yet efforts to re-establish production in Europe and the United States are not for the faint-hearted.

By

Jonathan Gifford

08 Feb 2024

Qcells’ module facility in Dalton, Georgia, in the United States, will procure ingot, wafers, and cells from a neighboring facility in 2024. | Photo: Qcells

While certain solar production steps are measured in nanometers, atomic layers, and fractions of a percentage or cent, ingot and wafer production more closely resembles heavy industry. Gleaming crystalline silicon ingots emerge from towering pullers to be sliced by diamond wire saws into iridescent, black square, or rectangular, monocrystalline wafers.The ingot and wafering production steps …

This article is part of pv+

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