Renaissance of Europe’s PV manufacturing hinges on Brussels’ next move

Whichever International Energy Agency (IEA) scenario you pick, solar power production is rising dramatically through 2050. In the remaining years of this decade alone, at least 4 terawatts will be installed, roughly double the current global capacity that’s been built up over a much longer period. In the past, even the IEA’s most optimistic scenarios have often proven too pessimistic.

For a long time, it seemed that almost all these panels would be made in China. Europe used to have a world-leading PV industry some fifteen years ago, but now China has the production chain in its grip with a market share of around 90 percent in all key steps (manufacturing silicon, wafers, cells and modules, respectively). Even Mario Draghi, a great proponent of reviving European manufacturing, suggested at the presentation of his much-discussed competitiveness report late last year that it might be better to leave solar cells to the Chinese. Attempts to reshore production – although a good idea in principle – would only delay decarbonization, he said.