BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
In the 2020s, solar module costs will continue to fall, albeit at a much slower rate, Trend reports citing Wood Mackenzie.
Instead, improvement in module efficiency and power class will propel the declining capex trend forward and ultimately lower the solar levelised cost of energy (LCOE), new research from Wood Mackenzie found.
In its latest Solar PV Module Technology Market Report 2020, Wood Mackenzie examined three technologies that have the potential to improve solar module power class and performance: large wafer, n-type cells, and cell- and module-level techniques.
We found that PV modules made of large wafers, such as the M6, M10, or G12 format, could reduce the capex of a utility-scale solar project by 3 percent to 9 percent. The cost savings would be appealing to solar developers and installers, which will drive the market adoption,” report author Dr Xiaojing Sun said.
She said a majority of the major silicon module manufacturers have announced large module products, and many of them are on track to commercially produce large modules between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021.
Wood Mackenzie’s data show that the total module manufacturing capacity of M6, M10, and G12 wafer-based modules will reach 28GW, 63GW, and 59GW, respectively, by the end of 2021. By 2025, the production capacity of modules using M10 and G12 wafers is forecasted to exceed 90GW, respectively, making them the dominant technologies by manufacturing capacity.
The research suggests that the 2020s will be a decade with rapid solar module technology innovations, leading to significant increases in module power class, better performance, more versatile applications.
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