Solar Home Power Station Supply Chain

What is the supply chain for solar PV?

The supply chain for solar PV has two branches in the United States: crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV, which made up 84% of the U.S. market in 2020, and cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film PV, which made up the remaining 16%. The supply chain for c-Si PV starts with the refining of high-purity polysilicon.

How can a sustainable supply chain be achieved for solar photovoltaic technologies?

SETO has identified three exemplary scenarios that can achieve a more sustainable, reliable, and resilient supply chain for solar photovoltaic technologies: Majority domestic production across all required supply chain segments for mature solar technologies (crystalline silicon and cadmium telluride).

Are solar PV supply chains cost-competitive?

Currently, the cost competitiveness of existing solar PV manufacturing is a key challenge to diversifying supply chains. China is the most cost-competitive location to manufacture all components of the solar PV supply chain. Costs in China are 10% lower than in India, 20% lower than in the United States, and 35% lower than in Europe.

What is the c-Si solar supply chain?

As evaluated in the PV supply chain review, the domestic c-Si solar manufacturing sector is composed primarily of established polysilicon production facilities and some c-Si module assembly plants relying predominantly on imported components.

How big is the solar supply chain?

Sufficient initial scale for competitiveness of the silicon supply chain would be approximately 20 GW dc in annual capacity. With the additional announced and existing CdTe capacity of 10 GW dc, the overall U.S. solar manufacturing capacity would be 30 GW dc.

What is a solar PV supply chain deep dive?

The solar PV supply chain deep dive contains a more detailed assessment of policy elements. Factories in the c-Si and CdTe supply chain segments become more cost competitive as annual production capacity increases.