Announced solar PV manufacturing capacity across the globe has met the deployment levels suggested by the International Energy Agency towards 2030, but only 25% of the announced projects could be considered as committed, according to IEA's recent study.
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.
Microinverter supplier Enphase Energy plans to add a quarterly capacity of 4.5 million microinverters in 2023 and reach ten million by the end of the year.
PV solutions provider SPI Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary, Solar 4 America (S4A), has begun manufacturing M10 (182mm) modules in the new production line at its facility in Sacramento, California.
Adani Solar, the solar PV manufacturing and research arm of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, has produced India’s “first” large sized monocrystalline silicon ingot.
Since August 2022 there have been 12 new solar PV manufacturing facilities announced in the US that represent 22GW of module and cell production capacity, according to a report by American Clean Power (ACP).
Major polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy has increased its expected polysilicon production capacity by 100,000MT in Inner Mongolia and reach a total production of 305,000MT by the end of 2023.
Europe needs to galvanise a competitive PV manufacturing ecosystem in the same vein as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC).
