Trade body SolarPower Europe has called on the European Commission to include a ‘best-in-class’ solar labelling to leverage PV demand for European manufacturing in the Green Deal Industrial Plan.
In an exclusive interview with PV Tech Premium, US senator for Georgia Jon Ossoff explains steps he is taking towards making the state the advanced energy innovation and manufacturing hub of the US, while warning about dependence on Chinese PV products and the national importance of a vertically integrated domestic manufacturing base.
While collecting verified bottom-up project data in real time has previously been cost-prohibitive, satellite data can now be leveraged to make comprehensive market intelligence attainable for investors. Daniel Cruise and Joseph Triepke, partners at energy intelligence firm Lium Research, reveal how satellites can provide more reliable insights into the construction of US utility-scale solar projects.
The recent swathe of announcements from US policymakers – coupled with growing geopolitical unrest regarding Chinese manufacturing dominance and the role of solar PV from an energy security standpoint – has the potential to redefine PV technology, manufacturing and component supply chains in a way that the industry has never seen before, writes Finlay Colville, head of research at PV Tech.
Solar investors believe that Europe can be a competitive market for PV manufacturing and compete with the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as ESG and energy security concerns will drive money to the continent.
CubicPV, a US solar manufacturer backed by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is looking to leverage support included in the country’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to set up what it claims will be the largest PV wafer manufacturing facility outside of China.
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.
Following months of discussion and encouragement from the European solar industry, the EU has announced a multi-pronged scheme to drive renewable energy and clean technology development, with the aim of putting the European market at the forefront of the global energy transition.
Trina Solar US has announced that its 6.5GW PV wafer manufacturing facility in Vietnam specifically designated to supply the US market will be online in mid-2023.
