upstream

Finlay Colville, head of market research at PV Tech Research, explores how solar PV has become dependent on low-cost manufacturing, facilitating a dominance by China-based players, and how the industry could engage with current scrutiny of solar’s supply chain.

Amidst surging materials costs, the solar industry needs to avoid any “gaming” on price between upstream and downstream sectors as it could be “very dangerous for both sides”. Leo Xiang, general manager at Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers’ energy department, speaks to PV Tech about the potential remedies to the situation.

Solar wafer and cell manufacturers in China have hiked their prices once again this month after a jump in spot prices for polysilicon in the country, while earthquakes have also disrupted upstream production.

Manufacturers of solar glass are expecting average selling prices to fall over the course of 2021 as more capacity comes onstream, but high prices last year helped send profits soaring.

Polysilicon provider Wacker witnessed a sales recovery in the second half of 2020, but ongoing cost reductions coupled with weak first half demand led to polysilicon plant utilisation rates averaging 85%.

Trina Solar has signed another upstream manufacturing supply agreement, penning a long-term high purity polysilicon supply deal with Daqo New Energy.

Yingli Green Energy has revealed new details surrounding its pending restructure, stating aims to once again become a top-ten module manufacturer. But as the solar industry enters a new era of expansion plans, can it keep up with the pace?

Quotes for PV glass have soared this month, reaching a price of RMB43/㎡ according to prices compiled by PV InfoLink, with some small-scale suppliers even quoted prices of RMB50/㎡.

Trina Solar and Tongwei have unveiled a multi-billion-dollar collaboration which will see the two companies invest in and co-develop multi-gigawatt solar supply facilities.

In this episode of the Solar Media Podcast, Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe take a deep dive into what Elon & Co. presented at Tesla’s Big Battery Day, assess what the recent spate of solar manufacturing expansion announcements mean for the sector, and discuss the current state of energy politics.