Wafer cost analysis for solar cell and low-cost technology trends

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Wafer Cost Analysis for Solar Cell and Low-Cost Technology Trends" report to its offering.

The photovoltaic market that grew rapidly until 2010 is slightly slowing down due to the FIT cut and global financial crisis. The module price decreased annually through an excessive investment in production lines along with reduced demand. Wafer, which is a key component for crystalline solar cell seems to have dropped by more than 30 percent this year as well.

Some have an optimistic view of the photovoltaic industry for the second half of this year, but the PV market seems to continue just as through the first half of this year. The price of all raw materials including modules are expected to steadily decrease. In this situation, new technology for high efficiency and cost competitiveness are required for companies - especially for manufacturing costs of wafer which is one of the photovoltaic value chains (polysilicon accounts for 50-60 percent) meaning that vertically unintegrated companies will face a considerable burden in terms of production cost.

This report comprehensively handles development trends of low cost wafer technology and contains the cost analysis depending on vertical integration as well as analysis of investment in single/multi crystalline production lines.