TrendForce’s latest research on the global market for solar PV reveals that some of the unmet demand that emerged during the 2021~2022 period has been carried over to 2023. In the past two years, the supply chain for PV products experienced pandemic-related disruptions, and prices of PV modules (solar panels) were high due to a supply crunch for polysilicon.
Turning to electrolytes and related upstream materials, the average price of LiPF6 (lithium hexafluorophosphate) fell by 11% MoM for January. This, in turn, caused the average price of electrolytes to drop by 11~15% MoM for the same month.
Based on recent wafer transactions, TrendForce estimates that prices (in RMB per piece) of M10 wafers have fallen by 19.5% MoM for December. Among different wafer sizes, M10 appears to have suffered the largest price drop.
TrendForce believes, regardless of the outcome of this probe, the tariff exemption that the US government has recently granted for PV module imports from Southeast Asia will remain in force. The exemption applies to modules that are to be imported before June 6, 2024 and installed at project sites before December 2024. Therefore, the initial ruling has no tangible impact during the interim period.
TrendForce indicates that the rapid rise in the penetration rate of the global new energy vehicle (NEV) market has stimulated an increase in the installed capacity of power batteries on a yearly basis. At the same time, the technological path of lithium iron phosphate batteries in the field of electrochemical energy storage has become the mainstream solution for new installed capacity in recent years and its market share is rising rapidly. As EV and energy storage batteries are retired on a large-scale in the future, TrendForce estimates that the global market for EV and energy storage battery recycling will exceed 1TWh by 2030, of which the scope of lithium iron phosphate battery recycling will account for more than a 58% share.