AS Published on Monday 6 February 2023 - n° 433 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at changing habits in the PV
Within a few years, the price of panels collapsed as a result of productivity, technical progress, and the multiplication of their number. In a short space of time, the need for a subsidy to buy the panels was replaced by the claim that solar energy was much cheaper than any other energy. Although the downward trend has been interrupted for the past thirty months, announcements of silicon production units coming on stream will re-launch the price reductions for panels.
The speed of these events has obscured the consequences of the decline in panel prices. It is time to examine what has changed as a result.
AS Published on Monday 30 January 2023 - n° 432 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at Ms van der Leyen's Davos speech
While renewable energies seem to be the future of humanity, why is there no European policy to stimulate the industry? Why do open letters or associations fail to make themselves heard by the European Commission? Why does the European dependence on Russian gas, which has caused so much economic disruption over the past twelve months, not alert leaders to the much more sensitive dependence on Chinese photovoltaic production? These few questions remain unexplained in commentary and policy decisions. An AFP document that Solar News obtained explains what seemed to be an enigma
AS Published on Monday 23 January 2023 - n° 431 - Categories:PV Watch
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AS Published on Monday 16 January 2023 - n° 430 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the historic decline in silicon and therefore panels in 2023
In just a few weeks, the world of photovoltaics has changed dramatically. The fall in the price of silicon is lasting and will be profound. It will have repercussions for the entire industry. The drop in prices will boost global demand. At the same time, China is playing its role as world leader in photovoltaics. We can bet that it will be cooperative, diligent and a good supplier. Industrialists will be Chinese lovers!
L R AS Published on Tuesday 20 December 2022 - n° 429 - Categories:PV Watch
This week's highlights, as of 18 December 2022
The bottom line
The last 30 months have seen a surge in the price of silicon and talk of a silicon 'shortage', although panel production has risen significantly between 2020 and 2021, and has risen sharply again in 2022. The last 30 months have been marked by a surge in silicon prices and talk of a silicon 'shortage', although panel production rose significantly between 2020 and 2021, and has risen sharply again in 2022. This movement has barely been completed (silicon and panel prices are still at their highest) and reactions are already emerging to prevent photovoltaic installers from being taken hostage by Chinese manufacturers and to prevent such a situation from recurring. It is worth looking back at the recent past and analysing the measures taken that will have a lasting impact on the photovoltaic sector.
AS Published on Tuesday 20 December 2022 - n° 429 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the consequences of the silicon 'shortage
The last 30 months have been marked by a surge in silicon prices and talk of a silicon 'shortage', although panel production rose significantly between 2020 and 2021, and has risen sharply again in 2022. This movement has barely been completed (silicon and panel prices are still at their highest) and reactions are already emerging to prevent photovoltaic installers from being taken hostage by Chinese manufacturers and to prevent such a situation from recurring. This is worth looking back at the recent past and analysing the measures taken.
AS Published on Tuesday 13 December 2022 - n° 428 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the European Commission's industrial recovery plan
The future of the new reindustrialisation plan will only be clear if we know how the European Commission is acting. During the first year of its presidency, it has often asserted, often occupied the podium, regularly changed its plans and announced substantial spending programmes without it being clear whether or not it is actually doing so. In the first year of its presidency, it has often claimed, often occupied the podium, regularly changed its plans and announced substantial spending programmes without it being known whether or not they were spent. The new reindustrialisation plan is therefore worrying.
AS Published on Monday 5 December 2022 - n° 427 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at an innovation that will revolutionise current photovoltaics
The history of photovoltaics could be the history of the search for the space where it will be installed. It began with large power plants; the corresponding spaces became increasingly difficult to find. This led to trials on lakes and water bodies, and attempts were made to install them on oceans, motorways and railways. For the past few semesters, it is believed that they have found their place on agricultural land. Resistance is already being organised.
So we have to find somewhere else, especially if we combine wind power and photovoltaics to increase the amount of energy produced in the same place.
AS Published on Monday 28 November 2022 - n° 426 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the glimmer of hope that shines on photovoltaics
The photovoltaic market is showing encouraging signs this week. The difficult period of the last 24 months seems to be over. The price of silicon is turning around, encouraged by LONGi and Zhonghuan. Each stage of the industry is demanding lower prices from its suppliers. Only the panel manufacturers are not under the same pressure. Indeed, buyers are in a hurry to obtain panels.
Other price components (sea freight, interest rates) are moving in favourable directions. There is still the threat of the pandemic in China, and the supply of inverters, batteries and components remains problematic. But this should improve.
AS Published on Monday 21 November 2022 - n° 425 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the cost of building a battery or panel industry in the US or Europe
Gradually, China has become dominant in photovoltaics and batteries, two products of the future, to the point where it now holds 70% to 90% of world production. The realisation of this domination came with the pandemic, which disrupted production, road and sea transport. The cut-off of Russian gas supplies showed the danger of depending on an overly dominant supplier. Europe has not yet developed a comprehensive response to this domination. The United States has done so. But the task is immense because it is necessary to practically reconstitute a complete economy with factories, but also to have the know-how, and to produce objects that are competitive in terms of quality and price. The challenge is huge.
AS Published on Monday 14 November 2022 - n° 424 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at Voltec Solar's approach
While everyone is calling on the European authorities to set up a system to limit Chinese panel imports, which are increasing more and more until they represent one third of total Chinese production in 2022, to the point where the slightest retaliatory measures are impossible to accept by the Chinese authorities and manufacturers, a glimmer of light comes from the IPVF and the European Commission.While everyone is calling on the European authorities to set up a system to limit Chinese imports, which are increasing more and more until they account for a third of total Chinese production in 2022, to the point where the slightest retaliatory measures are impossible for the Chinese authorities and industrialists to accept, a glimmer of light comes from the IPVF and Voltec. The company has agreed to start producing revolutionary cells and panels. Is this the beginning of a photovoltaic reindustrialisation in Europe? Or is it just an attempt without a future? Whatever the outcome of this attempt, it provides a dose of dynamism and reconquest that should be welcomed.
AS Published on Monday 7 November 2022 - n° 423 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the price drop of Zhonghuan wafers: isolated initiative or overall movement?
There was no indication that the world's joint number one wafer producer would propose a price cut for its products. It would have been normal for silicon manufacturers to initiate the price cut, which would have been the signal everyone was waiting for. The fact that a wafer manufacturer is the first to do so is intriguing. One wonders whether this is a local and short-lived movement, or the beginning of a movement that will gain momentum.
AS Published on Wednesday 2 November 2022 - n° 422 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at recent developments in the Chinese PV industry
The photovoltaic world has been largely disrupted over the last six months. In addition to Covid 19, which has caused supply difficulties between factories, and in addition to energy shortages which have also penalised the course of business, professionals in the sector have suffered from the rise in the price of silicon. This has favoured producers but also wafer manufacturers who have raised their prices and improved their profitability. On the other hand, the panel assemblers, who are in contact with the end customers, were not able to pass on the increase in silicon prices as well. They have put pressure on cell producers to absorb a large part of the price increase upstream.
With the statistics published this week by AECEA and PV InfoLink, plus the half-yearly or nine-monthly accounts of Chinese manufacturers in the industry, we sought to take stock of the industry.
AS Published on Wednesday 26 October 2022 - n° 421 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at power purchase agreements
Are there many PPAs being signed at the moment? It is difficult to say. What is true is that industrialists would very much like to conclude such agreements in order to fix the price of their energy and thus to strengthen their competitive position.
Is this also the case for developers? It is very difficult to say: they have to adapt to a market price for electricity that fluctuates considerably. Is it to their advantage to commit themselves for a certain number of years or is it in their interest to sell their production on the free market? The price per kilowatt hour reached record highs in August, justifying retail sales. Will it return to the August 2022 level this winter? The uncertainties make them cautious and even reluctant.
AS Published on Wednesday 19 October 2022 - n° 420 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the awakening of the European PV
A number of concordant good news items have been published very recently. It is the volume of panels imported into Europe in 2022; it is the revival of European orders from German equipment manufacturers; it is the financial interest in installing solar power plants in EuropeIt is also the need to replace Russian gas with solar (and wind) installations; and finally, it is the European Commission's expression of interest in an industrial revival. It is rare that there is so much positive information in ten days.