As 2022 comes to an end, PV Tech is looking back on the year in solar, reflecting on some of the biggest stories and trends of the last 12 months. Following Q1, Q2 and Q3, today’s review details domestic manufacturing plans and supply chain turbulence.
The head of Enel’s 3Sun Gigafactory says the company is in advanced discussions over ventures further upstream than solar cells to make a robust supply chain in the US and explains the advantages of bifacial HJT and tandem technology to be produced at its planned US manufacturing facility.
Since August 2022 there have been 12 new solar PV manufacturing facilities announced in the US that represent 22GW of module and cell production capacity, according to a report by American Clean Power (ACP).
Solar manufacturer CubicPV is planning to establish a 10GW mono wafer manufacturing facility in the US that it said will be the “first of this scale” in the country.
With the US Department of Commerce finding that solar manufacturers in Southeast Asia are circumventing duties on Chinese PV cells, questions have been raised over potential legal challenges that lie ahead and whether American project developers will be able to secure enough modules to meet soaring demand.
As of today, less than 10% of the necessary solar and wind power needed for a 2050 global net zero scenario exists, whilst global electricity generation will need to more than triple to 80,000TWh, according to the 2022 BloombergNEF (BNEF) New Energy Outlook.
Europe needs to galvanise a competitive PV manufacturing ecosystem in the same vein as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC).
