Intersolar Europe 2021: Speed and scale critical to Europe’s solar manufacturing hopes

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Solar module production at Meyer Burger’s recently-opened facility in Germany. Image: Meyer Burger.

Establishing solar manufacturing scale at speed will be critical to the continent’s hopes of reviving an upstream solar manufacturing value chain, a panel of experts has concluded.

Speaking at SolarPower Europe’s high-level industry forum, hosted at this week’s Intersolar Europe 2021 exhibition, the trade body’s chief executive Walburga Hemetsberger spoke of Europe’s ambition to have 20GW of solar module manufacturing capacity – with accompanying value chain – within Europe by 2025.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

This target had placed the sector “on the map”, Hemetsberger said, stating that “eyes and ears are open” with regards what is needed from the upstream solar industry in order to meet that target.

Panelists included representatives of both Meyer Burger and Solarwatt, manufacturers that have committed to building out manufacturing capacity in Europe, however both companies admitted that their respective current capacities are “drops in the ocean” in comparison to what is needed and the kind of scale other manufacturers possess.

Armin Froitzheim, chief technology officer at Solarwatt, said “enormous effort” was being undertaken by manufacturers and component providers from across the chain, ranging from polysilicon and ingot providers to frame, glass and other components, but suggested a comprehensive industrial strategy was required in order to reduce dependence on Chinese suppliers further.

Goran Bye, CEO at Norway-based monocrystalline wafer provider Norwegian Crystals, said Europe’s upstream solar industry needs to appreciate that Chinese manufacturers “knew how to get the price down”, and one of the critical components to this was establishing significant manufacturing scale at speed.

European manufacturers must look to replicate that kind of scale and speed, with Bye adding that this would not be achieved by backing novel technologies that are “still in the research lab”, such as pervoskites. After sufficient scale has been reached, that scale could then serve as a “platform to implement new technologies”.

Mortiz Borgmann, managing director at Meyer Burger (Industries), concurred, stating that Europe’s solar sector must build trust and adopt a more collaborative approach, ensuring that capacities of other components such as glass and aluminium frames also comes forward, with the entire value chain almost serving to de-risk investments in capacity expansions by adding certainty over offtakers.

More in-depth coverage of this panel will be published on PV Tech Premium later this week.

Read Next

October 2, 2025
The European solar sector will lose around 5% of its jobs in 2025, the first contraction in employment for the sector in nearly a decade.
September 26, 2025
The New South Wales (NSW) government has committed AU$28 million (US$18.3 million) to establish a new Renewables Manufacturing Hub in Blacktown, Western Sydney, Australia.
September 25, 2025
Inox Solar has started the first phase of commercial operations at a module manufacturing plant in Bavla, India.
September 25, 2025
A Fraunhofer and SolarPower Europe study has concluded that reaching the EU's annual solar module manufacturing target of 30GW is achievable.
September 24, 2025
Representatives from the EU, IEA and IRENA have signed an open letter to deliver a 'just and equitable energy transition'.
September 23, 2025
Boviet Solar has added an additional 1GW of manufacturing capacity to its module manufacturing plant in North Carolina.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland