PV Manufacturing

A lack of clear policy support, raw material dependency, and higher production costs are inhibiting the localization of European solar manufacturing, despite strong demand.

The European solar landscape changed forever in 2022 and managing the supply chain, grid, and permitting constraints will be key to a solar-dominated energy future for the continent.

Frank Haugwitz arrived in China in June 2002 as technical adviser to the solar-focused Sino-German Renewable Energies in Rural Areas Program. He has directly observed the nation’s rise to solar superpower status.

A combination of protectionist measures, attractive profit margins, and domestic content incentives has revitalized Turkey’s solar manufacturing industry. Jonathan Gifford asks whether the resurgent sector can become a player on the world stage.

First Solar has agreed to pay $38 million to buy Swedish manufacturing startup Evolar AB, as it seeks to expand development of high-efficiency tandem PV tech.

M10 Solar Equipment, a German joint venture, may have shown Europe’s solar manufacturers how to scale their gigafactories by using Siemens’ plant simulation software to ramp up production of its innovative shingled-matrix solar cell production equipment, explains Tobias Wachtmann, director of global glass and solar for Siemens.

The annual SiliconPV Conference came to TU Delft in the Netherlands last week and offered an important health check for the science and technology behind solar energy. pv magazine was on site to hear the latest from researchers reaching for higher efficiency through tandem cells and other innovations, and working to cut down solar technology’s consumption of rare and expensive materials.

When US President Joe Biden signed the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act into law in August, it was lauded as the world’s most significant policy to combat climate change. However, some international critics and competitors claim the landmark bill thwarts their plans to foster green manufacturing at home. Australia is one country realizing that it may have already been left behind.

Poland’s Unimot Group is expanding its production line for Avia Solar monocrystalline PV modules due to growing demand for products made in Europe.

If Europe is to come up with its own Inflation Reduction Act moment, and incentivize a return of EU solar manufacturing leadership, it must lift state-aid related restrictions on the PV manufacturers who have announced a willingness to build 30 GW of production lines.