Solar manufacturing refers to the fabrication and assembly of materials across the solar value chain, the most obvious being solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, which include many subcomponents like wafers, cells, glass, backsheets, and frames. Indian PV manufacturers are strategically poised to expand their production capacities and adopt new technologies in the coming years on the back of government incentive programs with solar module manufacturing capacity expected to reach approximately 95 GW by the end of 2025.

Overall, the module manufacturing space has several players across technologies. States are promoting domestic solar manufacturing through fiscal and non-fiscal incentives under industrial, electronics, and solar policies. The PLI program is an added push to enhance the vertical integration of new capacity additions and technology used.

Sharing a quick snapshot below!

There are distinct segments within the whole solar power ecosystem, from equipment manufacturing and module production to installation and operation. The key considerations for solar module manufacturing are divided into two segments: pre-production and post-production. Pre-production considerations involve factors such as module size & technology, plant capacity, BOM components sourcing, certifications, area location, and government policies & incentives. The post-production phase focuses on devising the sales strategy and creating infrastructure for the storage & transportation of solar modules.

In this newsletter, we have focused on covering three pre-production considerations namely:

• Technology to be used
• Plant capacity
• BOM components

Solar modules can be manufactured in many different ways and from a variety of different materials. Despite this difference, they all perform the same task of harvesting solar energy and converting it to useful electricity. There are four types of PV technologies that dominate the world market: polycrystalline, thin film, mono-PERC, and bifacial. When benchmarked, mono-PERC technology gives higher cell efficiency of ~21-23% & has applications in residential, commercial & utility along with the lesser cost of production from bifacial. The PID (potential induces degradation) resistance is highest in mono-PERC technology.

An important element of manufacturing strategy for a firm is determining the size of the plant to operate. Plant capacity also referred to as production capacity refers to the volume or number of solar modules that can be manufactured during a given period. Several factors such as project financing, plant registration & certification, plant capacity utilization, and customer base are the key considerations while determining the solar module plant capacity. An important detriment of optimal plant size is the trade-off between economies of scale and the other factors listed above. In India, module production plant capacity ranges between 0.5-1.2 GW.

A Bill of materials (BOM) is a comprehensive inventory of the raw materials, assemblies, subassemblies, parts, and components, as well as the quantities of each needed to manufacture a solar module. In a nutshell, it is the complete list of all the items that are required to build a solar module. The major BOM components used in module manufacturing are junction box, back sheet, back EVA, solar cells, front EVA, glass, and frame. Currently, ~60% of module BOM components are being imported owing to quality issues and lack of capacity to produce indigenously

Hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter. As a new-age technology-enabled decision support organization, 1Lattice (erstwhile PGA Labs) has been a catalyst for firms in driving decisions from on-ground insights.
 
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