The PV review, Q2 2022: volatile pricing, plant performance woes, M&A deals abound

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
A PV plant from Shell. The company secured a US$1.55 billion deal to acquire Indian renewables platform Sprng Energy. Image: Shell.

As 2022 comes to an end, PV Tech is reviewing the year in solar, reflecting on some of the biggest stories and trends of the last 12 months. Following on from our Q1 review, we take a look at how the industry navigated rising prices and detail some of the major acquisitions.


An ongoing theme throughout Q2 – and much of 2022 as a whole – was volatile PV component pricing amid rising demand and reduced output in China due to lockdowns and power rationing.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Polysilicon prices continued to creep up throughout May and June, with industry analyst PV InfoLink noting that there were “ceaseless price hikes” as polysilicon shortages showed “no sign of easing”.

In late June, the average price for polysilicon in the country reached RMB273.1/kg (US$40.73/kg, inclusive of China’s 13% sales tax), a 1.71% increase week-on-week, according to the silicon branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. Part of the reason for the rise, the association said, was that one polysilicon producer lowered output due to power rationing, while another had an unplanned shutdown.

Lockdowns in China had a tangible effect on solar’s upstream value chain during Q2, as reported by PV Tech Premium. The transportation of imported silica sand slowed and the production of some crucibles for ingot pulling was limited. As a result, the utilisation rate of wafer facilities was around 70-80% in April. With some solar projects in China put on hold, module manufacturers increasingly turned to Europe and South America for shipments.

In India meanwhile, developers were impacted by rising module prices, in part because of a supply and demand mismatch and disrupted supply chains due to COVID-19. Research from JMK Research & Analytics published in April suggested module prices in the country had increased by 38% in the previous 20 months.

Indian module manufacturers hiked their prices in anticipation of an upsurge in demand stemming from import duties introduced at the beginning of Q2, according to JMK. It forecasted that module prices in the country wouldn’t start to fall until late 2023 or early 2024.

In terms of module performance, PV Evolution Labs named 25 manufacturers as ‘top performers’ in its 2022 Module Reliability Scorecard. However, the test lab observed failures in testing, with just under half of all participating manufacturers suffering at least one failure, a jump on last year’s figure of 26%.

A sobering report from kWh Analytics found that utility-scale solar in the US is plagued by underperformance. In its Solar Risk Assessment report, the insurance provider cited research confirming that system degradation, inverter availability and overly-optimistic PV modelling have meant that the industry has “significantly overestimated” expectations of solar assets and will need to “reckon the realities in the field with the assumptions we use on paper”.

Combining qualitative research from contributors such as BloombergNEF, PV Evolution Labs and NREL, the report warned of a host of issues that continue to dent solar asset performance. kWh Analytics found that 92% of lost earnings from solar assets is down to underproduction versus initial estimates.

Poor performance was compounded by a hike in downtime days. Supply chain issues, spiralling energy prices and COVID-19 reversed the downward trend in average business interruption claims for developers, research from insurance company GCube found. It said an unevenly distributed supply chain concentrated in China and Southeast Asia was rocked by recurring lockdowns, underscoring the importance of supply chain diversification.

Against this backdrop, manufacturers continued to progress with efforts to onshore some manufacturing, with US tracker company Nextracker opening three new US production lines during Q2 and Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon negotiated a raw material supply agreement as it confirmed plans to restart polysilicon production at its Moses Lake factory in the US.

Q2 also stood out in terms of M&A deals, with scores of solar project developers being snapped up, a trend that continued throughout the year. Among the major transactions were Kiwa Group’s purchase of solar testing firm PI Berlin and US solar and energy storage developer Borrego selling its development business.

Oil and gas majors continued to expand their presence in the solar sector, with TotalEnergies acquiring US developer Core Solar in April before buying a stake in another US developer, Clearway Energy, a month later. Shell, meanwhile, acquired Indian renewables platform Sprng Energy for US$1.55 billion.

On the policy front, the European Union ramped up its solar deployment targets as part of its REPowerEU strategy, targeting almost 600GWac/740GWdc by 2030, while the US’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came into force, resulting in scores of detained module shipments throughout the rest of the year.

10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

March 24, 2025
Xinzi Optoelectronics Technology, has submitted an initial public offering (IPO) application as it looks to list on the US NASDAQ market.
March 24, 2025
This would be treble the installations registered globally in 2024, with China controlling most of the supply chain.
March 24, 2025
The Northwest Electric Power Design Institute of China Power Engineering Consulting Group (NWEPDI) has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) for the 445MW Bilasuvar and 315MW Banka PV projects in Azerbaijan.
Premium
March 14, 2025
China's latest tender results show the spot price of n-type modules increasing from RMB0.7/W to as much as RMB0.75/W.
March 10, 2025
China's largest single-capacity PV power plant built on a coal mining subsidence area has officially entered commercial operation.
March 6, 2025
The company said its Full Black double-glass module, based on n-type TOPcon cell technology, has a conversion efficiency of 22.8%.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
March 25, 2025
Lisbon, Portugal
Solar Media Events
March 26, 2025
Renaissance Dallas Addison Hotel, Dallas, Texas
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
April 23, 2025
Fortaleza, Brazil
Solar Media Events
April 29, 2025
Dallas, Texas
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
May 7, 2025
Munich, Germany