Ill Effects of Global Solar Trade Wars The globalized nature of our economy has unexpected side effects for workers and companies. Though globalization has brought prosperity and an increased standard of living for a lot of people, it has also raised the risks that entities faced due to black swan events. USA imposed a duty […]
Polysilicon Prices The prices of polysilicon have gone up a bit in the last few months as poly producers have sharply reduced utilization to 50% or lower. With prices at $15/kg and costs of $30/kg, many of the smaller poly producers have just shut shop and left the industry. However the bigger players which account […]
China has been bristling against the hostility in solar trade from major partners such as US and Europe. The dominance of the Chinese solar panel industry with almost 60% of the global demand has made other countries see red. Thousands of Western solar companies have closed, even as China keeps on adding solar capacity. The […]
Polycrystalline silicon or Polysilicon (poly-Si or “poly”) is a material consisting of multiple small silicon crystals. Poly is highly pure form of silicon and is much costlier. Polycrystalline silicon can be as much as 99.9999% pure. Solar Use of Polysilicon (Solar Wafers and Ingots Raw Material) Once Polysilicon is produced, it has to be made […]
USA Solar Companies surviving the Downturn The Solar Industry has seen a massive shakedown with hundreds of bankruptcies and thousands of jobs lost. There has been no solar energy company which has been left unaffected by this brutal consolidation. Even the biggest solar panel manufacturers have seen huge losses and restructuring. The biggest solar companies […]
Polysilicon Price Crash Polysilicon which is the most used raw material for manufacture of solar panels has crashed to unheard of levels as the capacity glut drives prices below even variable costs. Note costs are made up of fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs are those which cannot be reduced by reducing production while […]