PV industry

China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, pv magazine looks back at key highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.

On Nov. 6, the European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) published a recommendation paper in which it set out how its members envisage a European support scheme to foster the development of European solar. What chance does it have of actually achieving its goals? Götz Fischbeck delivers an assessment.

Solar manufacturing capacity has been ramping up so quickly that even impressive installation growth cannot keep pace. Molly Morgan, senior research analyst at UK-based research firm Exawatt, explores the relationship between PV supply and demand and assesses the likelihood of overproduction.

The collapse of module prices in 2023 has fueled speculation around just how much PV supply is held in European warehouses. How big the stockpile is depends on who you ask but such a broad spectrum of opinion shows there is room for improvement in how the solar industry shares data.

The PV industry in Southeast Asia has come a long way since guest author Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, partner at Everoze, reported on solar financing innovation in the region more than a decade ago. In this article, she outlines five factors for success, the newest of which has the potential to become a game changer, and not only in Southeast Asia.

As solar manufacturing moves toward technological convergence, and rampant production capacity expansion continues, standing out from the crowd is just one of the strategies small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will have to use to survive, according to InfoLink’s Amy Fang.

Should the industry be alarmed at the potential degradation susceptibility of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells? Or are the problems easily addressed and more a reflection of rushed-to-market products? pv magazine contributor and consultant Götz Fischbeck reports.

Differences in wafer and module specifications, which have bedevilled solar developers in recent years, could now be narrowing.

Small-scale PV systems drove the installation of more than 200 GW of solar capacity last year and could support more than 300 GW this year. That means a reset for utilities.

In May 2022, PV experts from around the world convened in Germany for the third Terawatt Workshop. Almost one year later, takeaways from discussions at the workshop – combined with a wide-ranging review of research on decarbonization pathways, energy demand projections, and the state of the art in PV technology – led to the conclusion that 75 TW of installed solar capacity by 2050 was a realistic global target. More than 50 leading PV industry figures recently outlined the opportunity and the challenges that solar will face in reaching this goal.