Amid potential supply chain bottlenecks as China increases its PV manufacturing dominance, companies in markets such as the US, India and Europe are looking to leverage new policy support to scale up domestic production. Jules Scully charts the industry’s efforts to onshore solar module manufacturing.
Silicon materials producer REC Silicon has concluded a 10-year agreement with South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Solutions to offer fluidised bed reactor (FBR) polysilicon.
The largest solar investment in US history, a pivot to a vertically integrated PV manufacturing facility in the state of Georgia by Qcells, was enabled by a combination of state support, federal government investment and related benefits coming from the Inflation Reduction (IRA), according to the company.
CSI Solar has announced plans to expand its solar and battery storage manufacturing capacity in China, through an investment agreement with the municipal government of Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province.
Indian solar module manufacturing capacity is forecast to reach around 95GW – up from 39GW at the end of September 2022 – according to research from analyst and consultancy Mercom India Research.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is set to boost investment into US renewable energy deployment and manufacturing from US$64 billion in 2022 to US$114 billion by 2031, according to research from Wood Mackenzie, though a mismatch between solar deployment demand and domestic manufacturing capacity may see the sector’s domestic profile lag behind.
PV Tech Premium spoke to Neil Spann, CEO of Power Roll, about the UK company’s new architecture designed to house solar-absorbing materials such as perovskite and the vision of a gigafactory in northeast England.
Chinese module manufacturer Risen Energy has revealed its plan to expand the production capacity of its Hyper-ion solar cell and module to 15GW in 2023.
