PV industry

Risen will sell 50,000 metric tons of poly to Shangji Automation and Zhonghuan Semiconductor has raised the prices of all its wafer products.

A national production-linked incentive scheme introduced to encourage domestic manufacturing will now encompass solar. The PV policy will reportedly offer increased rewards for the production of more efficient panels and for Indian content–although it is not clear how.

PV Infolink reported a considerable increase in prices for polysilicon and wafer prices for last week. Both products saw their average price increase by over 9% compared to the previous week.

Silver demand for PV production worldwide is forecast to grow to 105 million ounces this year, as overall demand hits an eight-year high. Prices for the precious metal could reach a seven-year high of $30.00 per ounce this year but, according to the Silver Institute, this level is still far away from any critical threshold that would make silver supply for the solar industry problematic.

At a conference held in Shanghai last week, the three Tier-1 manufacturers explained that the entire Chinese PV industry will continue to adapt to the 182mm wafers over the next months.

The pandemic and accidents at polysilicon labs in China’s Xinjiang region put PV manufacturers under pressure to maintain production this year, while slowing cell and module R&D. After half-cut and multi-busbar becomes commonplace, manufacturers will continue to explore the high-density assembly methods that emerged last year, as well as n-type cells. But the market is also shifting to large formats, and the share of bifacial products is growing this year. As sizing up modules can bring immediate returns, PV InfoLink’s Amy Fang expects the PV industry to prioritize the development of large formats and bifacial products next year.

China’s largest PV manufacturers claim limits placed on solar glass production two years ago, to prevent over production, are now causing an industry bottleneck.

A new week has brought another slew of big production capacity announcements as online retailer JD.com prepares to install 200 MW of solar rooftop capacity and project developer SFSY reported on a promising new business stream.

The U.S. polysilicon manufacturer has acquired DuPont’s trichlorosilane business, in a move that will help it cut production costs and control supply.

Businesses, supported by the government, will join forces to strengthen their industry and contribute to the European Green Deal through made-in-EU products.