Severe shortages of silicon have plagued the solar photovoltaic market over the past few years. According to a Frost & Sullivan press release a turnaround can be expected this year with polysilicon catching up with the demand . Quoting from the press release:
It was estimated that the demand for silicon feedstock neared 26,000 tonnes in 2004. In 2005 there was a rise in wafer production by nearly 7 per cent. However, this increase was not sufficient to keep up with the market need. In 2006 the shortage of feedstock reached a critical point affecting the production of solar panels and, consequently, the industry growth.
However, things are about to change. "We expect polysilicon supply to catch up with the demand already in 2008" – says Alina Bakhareva, Renewable Energy Programme Manager at Frost & Sullivan. "The majority of the new quantities will be supplied to the market by top 4 producers that are expanding their existing production capacities."
In fact, four top polysilicon producers are expected to add more than 17000 tonnes of capacity in 2008. This would represent over 50% increase over their current capacities.
On the demand side, demand from the semiconductor industry is expected to grow at steady one-digit rates. Demand for solar-grade polysilicon is expected to reach over 50% of the total demand for high purity silicon in 2008-2009.
This should bode very good news for the silicon solar PV cell manufacturers. With silicon supply no longer a constraint manufactures can ramp up production to meet demand and as a market driven supply chain develops the price of silicon should eventually settle out at a lower price. Then competitive prices and technical merits can let consumers choose what type of cells they prefer, rather than having to use what is available. This more importantly means that solar PV can be a significant (10s of gigawatts) source of renewable energy in a shorter time period -- perhaps in as short as five years.
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Posted by: auto scanner | April 12, 2011 at 12:34 AM
Good stuff. It is interesting to read comments.
Posted by: damer | July 06, 2011 at 05:49 AM
Who are the 4 top polisilicon providers? What country are they located in?
Posted by: Auto Lease Los Angeles | November 23, 2011 at 03:42 PM
How is it we're having silicon shortages. What's left in Silicon Valley? Lol
Posted by: Dentist Hollywood | November 23, 2011 at 03:54 PM
What exactly are we using all of this silicon for, or did we not have a huge source of it to begin with.
Posted by: Air Purifier | November 23, 2011 at 04:03 PM
Good that they were able to figure out this problem for now.
Posted by: Rug Cleaning Los Angeles | November 23, 2011 at 05:29 PM
As soon as five years would be great, 3 have passed since you wrote this, what's the status now?
Posted by: fish tv | November 23, 2011 at 05:36 PM
Wow 26,000 tons is a LOT of silicon!
Posted by: Therapist New york | November 23, 2011 at 05:47 PM
Does a lot of silicon still come from silicon valley?
Posted by: seo services | November 28, 2011 at 06:47 PM
hopefully when the supply catches up with demand the cost of the solar panels will decrease so it will be more cost effective to be environmentally friendly
Posted by: Ian | February 01, 2012 at 07:04 PM