A study exploring the feasibility of resurrecting PV manufacturing in Germany and Europe more widely has identified an eight-cent-per-watt cost gap between modules produced in China and those produced locally.
Silicon-based tandem solar cells and modules are expected to enter commercial production in 2027 with a module efficiency of 27%, according to the latest International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV) published by German engineering association VDMA.
Demand for European-made PV production equipment jumped by 62% in Q2 2022, with European orders surpassing those from Asian countries for the first time, according to research by VDMA.
There needs to be a comprehensive industrial strategy for the solar industry located in the EU as part of the pending release of the EU’s own ‘Green Deal’ strategy, according to German manufacturing trade group VDMA (Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) and solar trade association, SolarPower Europe.
Trade body, VDMA has made key updates to the 10th edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) to incorporate the ongoing and rapidly changing wafer size transition as well as the manufacturing throughput differences in front-end and back-end processes.
The German Engineering Federation (VDMA) has reported a slowdown in new solar PV manufacturing equipment orders from its members in the third quarter of 2016.
