BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 7. Trade restrictions are expanding, risking slower deployment of solar PV, Trend reports with reference to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“As trade is critical to provide the diverse materials needed to make solar panels and deliver them to final markets, supply chains are vulnerable to trade policy risks. Since 2011, the number of antidumping, countervailing and import duties levied against parts of the solar PV supply chain has increased from just 1 import tax to 16 duties and import taxes, with 8 additional policies under consideration. Altogether, these measures cover 15 percent of global demand outside of China,” reads the latest IEA report.
IEA experts note that recent disruptions have raised important supply chain questions.
The Covid-19 crisis, record commodity prices and the situation in Ukraine have all focused attention on the high reliance of many countries on imports of energy, raw materials and manufacturing goods that are key to their supply security.
“Countries can improve resilience by investing to diversify their manufacturing and imports. New solar PV manufacturing facilities along the supply chain could attract USD 120 billion investment by 2030. Annual investment levels need to double throughout the supply chain. Critical sectors such as polysilicon, ingots and wafers would attract the majority of investment to support growing demand. The solar PV industry could create 1 300 manufacturing jobs for each gigawatt of production capacity. The solar PV sector has the potential to double its number of direct manufacturing jobs to 1 million by 2030. The most job-intensive segments along the PV supply chain are module and cell manufacturing. Over the last decade, however, the use of automation and automated guided vehicles has increased labour productivity, thereby reducing labour intensity,” the report says.
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