This week’s edition of PV Price Watch, available exclusively to PV Tech Premium subscribers, analyses what the solar industry’s polysilicon price ceiling is currently and where it could decline to into next year. Exclusive to PV Tech Premium users.
Polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy posted record company profits in Q3 2021 as the company rode a wave of polysilicon price hikes, but warned of a challenging environment for future capacity expansions.
Trade body the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has urged the US Department of Commerce (DOC) to throw out petitions from an alliance of companies that are pushing for investigations into alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on solar PV cells from China.
Despite delays and supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, global solar PV employment increased by 6% last year to reach nearly 4 million, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Recent solar wafer and cell price increases from both LONGi Solar and Tongwei, which have seen prices rise by between 5.6 – 7.7%, have underscored heightened volatility in the solar supply chain.
US solar manufacturers behind the anti-dumping and countervailing duties petition have responded to a US government request for more information, stressing the case is “vital” to rebuilding US solar manufacturing.
China Silicon Industry, the country’s trade association for the nonferrous metals industry, has warned that pricing for polysilicon chips has soared 13.2% to highs of RMB273/kg (US$42.42/kg), placing further pricing pressure on the solar industry.
China has started building work on the first 100GW phase of a solar and wind buildout that is likely to see hundreds of gigawatts deployed in the country's desert regions.
The investment required to upgrade and expand transmission infrastructure across the world will be a key challenge as more renewables come online, consultancy EY has warned.
