Selling solar photovoltaic power generation components

Value creation along the solar PV supply chain involves a broad range of goods and services (Box 1). Some of these goods and services are supplied domestically, but many others are traded across borders. This section provides an overview of global trade flows in selected goods along the solar PV value chain.

Global solar PV manufacturing capacity has increasingly moved from Europe, Japan and the United States to China over the last decade. China has invested over USD 50 billion in new PV supply capacity – ten times more than Europe − and created more than 300 000 manufacturing jobs across the solar PV value chain since 2011.

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.

Included in the analysis are machines to manufacture solar PV wafers, cells, modules and panels, along with selected solar PV components, such as PV generators, inverters, PV cells and, where relevant, the parts needed to produce some of these goods (see Appendix).

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.

In 2021, the value of China's solar PV exports was over USD 30 billion, almost 7% of China's trade surplus over the last five years. In addition, Chinese investments in Malaysia and Viet Nam also made these countries major exporters of PV products, accounting for around 10% and 5% respectively of their trade surpluses since 2017.