International Energy Agency: The layout of the photovoltaic industry should be diversified

On July 7, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated in a report that countries around the world should promote the process of diversifying the layout of the photovoltaic industry, ensure supply chain security, and achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions
.

The IEA recommends in a report that the world needs to double the capacity of the current photovoltaic industry by 2030, a growth target that covers the entire industry chain, including polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules
.

Thanks to China's strong investment in the photovoltaic industry, solar power has become the cheapest way to generate electricity in many parts of the world, the IEA said
.
As of 2021, China has 79% of the world's polysilicon production capacity, 42% of which is located in Xinjiang, China
.
In addition, the report predicts that China's share of polysilicon production in the world's total capacity will soon rise to 95%
.

However, the IEA noted that "any concentration of global supply chains represents considerable vulnerability"
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In the event of an accident or natural disaster, it may have a negative impact on the global clean energy transition process, that is, "don't put all your eggs in one basket"
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Therefore, Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, believes that this risk will be addressed if governments around the world take the necessary diversification measures
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In addition, the energy shortage caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also intensified the needs of various countries for energy transformation
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On June 6, U.
S.
President Biden announced that he would exempt solar panels from four Southeast Asian countries from tariffs, a policy that will last for two years
.
Earlier, the U.
S.
Department of Commerce launched a trade protection investigation into solar panels produced in the four countries, which may lead to 240% of retroactive tariffs and jeopardize 80% of solar energy construction projects in the United States
.

Although the scale of photovoltaic manufacturing in the United States is limited, the United States has a huge market and strong strength in the fields of solar project opening, installation and construction
.
Although some industry figures have criticized Biden's move for affecting the domestic solar manufacturing industry in the United States, in general, the move is beneficial to the U.
S.
photovoltaic industry
.

Although the EU is also aware of the importance of the photovoltaic industry, under multiple obstacles, it is more than enough
.

On March 31 this year, the European Commissioner for Energy said that the European Commission will "do whatever it takes" to rebuild Europe's manufacturing of solar power installations, thereby reducing the EU's dependence on Russian natural gas
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However, the price of industrial electricity in EU countries remains high, and wafer production just needs a lot of electricity, which makes the wafers produced in the EU high in cost and low in competitiveness
.
Currently, only Sweden's industrial electricity prices are comparable to China's
.

In addition, the EU faces a shortage of installers, difficulties in obtaining industry licenses, and insufficient equipment
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Therefore, if the EU cannot overcome these "short-term obstacles", the EU's previous target of reaching 1,000 gigawatts of photovoltaic power generation by 2030 may be difficult to achieve, said SolarPowerEurope, an industry group for the EU's photovoltaic industry
.