PV Manufacturing

Despite the ongoing implementation of industrial strategies in other countries, the value of China’s exports will exceed $340 billion by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.

Though it already hosts several of the world’s largest PV installations, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s solar industry is still young, with limited local infrastructure and expertise. Project developers are learning quickly that building PV in harsh desert environments requires a careful eye on quality. New testing laboratories are looking to meet demand.

With solar module oversupply triggering a price freefall in 2023 and no recovery in sight, market consolidation, inventory pile-up, technology shifts, and challenges to reshoring PV manufacturing are set to affect all levels of the solar supply chain.

The number of module assembly businesses in Türkiye continues to rise but, despite protectionist moves to support domestic manufacturing, consolidation appears likely. Ambitions abroad, expansion at home, and interest from Chinese suppliers, were all on show at the recent SolarEX trade fair in Istanbul.

As the world becomes increasingly roiled by extreme weather, drone-based electroluminescence (EL) mapping can be a key weapon in the arsenal of solar investors.

The European Commission (EC) has proposed the European Solar Charter (ESC) in response to the challenges facing the continent’s solar manufacturing industry. The document sets out a series of voluntary actions to be undertaken to support the EU photovoltaic sector and bears no mention of EU trade tariffs or restrictions on cheap solar panel imports.

The European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) has published a 10-point action plan geared toward delivering 30 GW of EU solar manufacturing capacity by 2030. It includes calls for targeted financial support, sustainability standards for PV units, and the development of a European Solar Academy and European PV Passport.

A position paper from Solar Industry Regions Europe (SIRE) says a balance must be struck between protecting the European solar market and reaching the market objectives of the energy transition.

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.

Suniva has ordered equipment for thermal process steps annealing, diffusion and anti-reflective coating and passivation (PECVD) from Germany’s Centrotherm, as it proceeds with plans to expand high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cell production in Norcross, Georgia.