Solar energy is one of the most cost-effective renewable energy sources and one of the strong pillars of our future global energy supply system. To reduce CO2 emissions, solar installations have to be substantially increased resulting in a very high demand for solar modules. The global module production capacity has to be increased by at least a factor of four in a concise time period of 10 years. This is a global challenge and all industrialized countries such as China, India, Europe, the USA, Middle East are now establishing or reestablishing new multi-tens of GW solar manufacturing capacities. Controlling the value chain as a multi-GW manufacturer is a must to reach the required cost, and quality and to be independent of material cost fluctuations. In the presentation, different approaches to setting up integrated solar manufacturing facilities will be discussed, example cases of newly prepared solar factories outside China will be described and comparative production cost analysis of different regions will be shown.

Solar energy is one of the most cost-effective renewable energy sources and one of the strong pillars of our future global energy supply system. To reduce CO2 emissions, solar installations have to be substantially increased resulting in a very high demand for solar modules. The global module production capacity has to be increased by at least a factor of four in a concise time period of 10 years. This is a global challenge and all industrialized countries such as China, India, Europe, the USA, Middle East are now establishing or reestablishing new multi-tens of GW solar manufacturing capacities. Controlling the value chain as a multi-GW manufacturer is a must to reach the required cost, and quality and to be independent of material cost fluctuations. In the presentation, different approaches to setting up integrated solar manufacturing facilities will be discussed, example cases of newly prepared solar factories outside China will be described and comparative production cost analysis of different regions will be shown.