Is China's photovoltaic industry a good investment?

Amid rising global concerns over energy security and the exacerbation of climate change, the new energy industry continues to present opportunities. Due to supportive policies, China's photovoltaic industry has achieved notable success globally after developing for many years.

Will silicon photovoltaics become a multi-terawatt technology by 2030?

With rapid technological progress and cost decline, silicon photovoltaics (PV) modules is a proven technology to be deployed to a multi-terawatt scale by 2030. Despite the high growth rate in the past decade, the capital-intense nature of silicon PV manufacturing hinders the sustainable growth of the industry.

Is silicon PV Manufacturing a sustainable industry?

Despite the high growth rate in the past decade, the capital-intense nature of silicon PV manufacturing hinders the sustainable growth of the industry. Today, the most significant contribution to capital expenditure (capex) of PV module fabrication still comes from silicon wafer itself.

How much did solar-grade polysilicon feedstock cost in 2021?

The price of solar-grade polysilicon feedstock reached US$400 kg −1, up from US$30–50 kg −1 before the shortage. This triggered investment in large polysilicon production plants, enabling prices as low as US$6–12 kg −1 in 2021.

Should PV technology take up a large market share?

Although other PV technologies have potential advantages (such as reduced material usage for thin films), taking up large market shares is challenging for them because they have to demonstrate better price and/or efficiency than silicon, with at least the same reliability.

What changes have been made to silicon PV components?

In this Review, we survey the key changes related to materials and industrial processing of silicon PV components. At the wafer level, a strong reduction in polysilicon cost and the general implementation of diamond wire sawing has reduced the cost of monocrystalline wafers.