During 2022, capex for solar PV manufacturing fabs reached a record high - at more than US$27 billion - with spending dominated by Chinese companies building out new fabs in China and across Southeast Asia.
US independent power producer (IPP) Silicon Ranch has expanded its master supply deal with domestic PV module manufacturer First Solar, bringing the total agreed supply between the companies to 6.2GW.
Long-term domestic supply deals and strategic partnerships between companies in the PV value chain are increasingly key to long-term supply chain security and ensuring project delivery to appropriate standards.
US PV incentives should be entirely focused on solar cell manufacturing in the short term, with maximum incentive rates given to domestic solar cell production that ultimately has a risk-free supply chain of materials and equipment, writes Finlay Colville, head of research at PV Tech.
A round-up of the latest PV project news from the US and Europe, including two announcements in Spain, the inauguration of a pair of Hungarian PV plants and operations beginning at an installation in Colorado from Lightsource bp.
Amid potential supply chain bottlenecks as China increases its PV manufacturing dominance, companies in markets such as the US, India and Europe are looking to leverage new policy support to scale up domestic production. Jules Scully charts the industry’s efforts to onshore solar module manufacturing.
