Inverter manufacturer SolarEdge benefited from high demand for its products in Europe to increase revenues to a quarterly record while navigating a shortage of electronic components.
Last week saw yet another price increase from some of the solar industry’s largest manufacturers, continuing a trend that has placed some of the sector’s largest providers under heightened margin pressure and PV project developers the world over under strain.
US thin-film manufacturer First Solar recorded a US$43.3 million loss in its Q1 2022 mostly caused by a drop in sales, with the company expecting a “challenging 2022 from an earning standpoint” given ongoing supply chain constraints.
As the world leans on solar PV to decarbonise its power supply, so to must the solar industry clean up its act. Jules Scully charts the industry-wide efforts for a greener solar PV industry.
PV module prices in India have increased by ~38% in the last 20 months, in part due to supply chain disruptions and rising solar demand, with prices not expected to fall until the end of next year.
Kontron AIS is supporting PV manufacturers with a standardised Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for production control, material track and trace and equipment performance tracking, covering all processes from crystal growing over wafer and solar cell production to module assembly.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he expects the company to address component shortages that limited the progress of its solar business in the first quarter of 2021, as installs decreased 48% year-on-year.
US tracker manufacturer Nextracker has responded to global supply chain disruptions by inaugurating a new production line in Texas within a campus from steel producer Steel Dynamics.
LONGi Solar has raised prices for its 182mm wafers once again as upstream costs continue to edge upwards this week, exacerbated by constraints caused by COVID-19-related lockdowns in China.
Solar tracker provider Array Technologies is expecting to bounce back from a 2021 beset by supply chain challenges and project delays, as its order book reaches a new high and becomes more geographically diverse.
