wafer prices

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

A variety of factors led to the drop in polysilicon prices over the past year, but JinkoSolar notes that this decrease has slowed amid a short-term bump in supplies that still lags behind strong levels of wafer manufacturing capacity.

China’s president has detailed plans to accelerate the planning and construction of large-scale wind and PV projects in desert areas, while Wuxi Shanghai announced new granular silicon and nano-silicon production capacity expansions.

The sky is the limit. Fortunately, this expression does not apply to current prices for PV panels, which have recently declined, following a continuous rise since the beginning of the year. Whether this situation holds, or whether prices drop further in the coming months is hard to say at the moment, writes Martin Schachinger of pvXchange. Polysilicon prices and thus wafer and cell prices could be in for a slight decline. However, a decisive movement in module prices in general is unlikely before the fourth quarter.

Plus, panel maker Risen began construction of a 15 GW cell and module factory in Yiwu, in the central Zhejiang province of eastern China.

Chinese polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has secured a long-term supply agreement with PV equipment provider and monocrystalline wafer manufacturer Wuxi Shangji Automation, Shanxi Coal International Energy Group has unveiled a plan to set up a 10 GW heterojunction solar cell production fab and Longi has held its wafer prices.