Crystalline silicon solar module technology: Towards the 1 € per watt-peak goal

Crystalline silicon solar module manufacturing cost is analysed, from feedstock to final product, regarding the equipment, labour, materials, yield losses and fixed cost contributions. Data provided by European industrial partners are used to describe a reference technology and to obtain its cost breakdown. The analysis of the main cost drivers allows to define new generation technologies suitable to reduce module cost towards the short‐term goal of 1 € per watt‐peak. This goal roughly corresponds with the cost level needed to enable ‘grid parity’: the situation solar electricity becomes competitive with retail electricity. The new technologies are described and their costs are analysed. Cost reductions due to scale effects in production are also assessed for next generation manufacturing plants with capacities in the range of several hundreds of megawatts to one gigawatt of module power per year, which are to come in the near future. The combined effects of technology development and economies of scale bring the direct manufacturing costs of wafer‐based crystalline silicon solar modules down into the range of 0·9–1·3 € per watt‐peak, according to current insights and information (the range results from differences between technologies as well as from uncertainties per technology). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Crystalline silicon solar module manufacturing cost is analyzed, from feedstock to final product, taking as a reference current industrial technology, and evaluating cost reductions for emerging technologies. Savings due to scale effects in production are also assessed for next generation plants with capacities of several hundreds of megawatts. The combined effects of technology development and economies of scale bring the direct manufacturing costs of wafer‐based crystalline silicon solar modules down into the range of 0.9–1.3 € per watt‐peak.