Unspoken rules of the solar photovoltaic industry

Is solar PV a good investment for business and policy makers?

As from our point of view the development of renewable industries such as solar PV should be of vital interest for business and policy makers in light of global warming, cleaner production and also against the background of interesting business opportunities which contribute to economic and societal prosperity.

Are solar PV manufacturing processes suitable for a net-zero transition?

A simplified analysis concludes on the suitability of the PV manufacturing process today and indicates the opportunities for the net-zero transition in the future. While the focus is on the carbon impacts of the solar PV industry, the authors also identify other relevant aspects (such as circularity), laying the ground for a future research.

Why are European solar PV companies being terminated?

Various solar PV firms have been terminated production in Europe as an outcome of the global financial crisis 2007/2008 which cause current capacity shortages (Hanwha, 2023). As a result, the current dominance of China in the solar PV industry indicates a double-sided dilemma for the EU.

Is distributed solar PV cost-effective?

Within the context of China, studies have analyzed the cost-effectiveness of distributed solar PV, highlighting how improper policy can hinder PV development, and assessing the economic performance of distributed PV policies [40, 41, 46].

How do solar PV economies of scale affect global PV uptake?

Thus, while for the most part, it is evident that the solar PV economies of scale have been boosted by increased PV capacities and declining costs, differing policies, and incentives for solar PV production across regions and countries can impact the overall global rate of future PV uptake. 3.

Do PV modules need energy labelling requirements?

In this context, the Ecodesign and energy labelling requirements for PV modules and inverters currently under analysis by the European Commission and in particular the need for compulsory requirements on the CF of (the manufacturing phase of) PV modules are of great importance.