PV ModuleTech Europe

The European solar PV sector continues to be one of the attractive end-markets for module supply globally. Again in 2024, almost every PV module supplier has a European shipment target and strategy, feeding into both rooftop and ground-mount segments.

Last year, in 2023, PV module supply to Europe went out of control. While the fundamentals of European solar demand – collectively across a range of high-growth regions – remained attractive last year, PV module supply was far in excess of what downstream channels could deal with. As a result, inventories grew in the second half of the year, and it was not until the first half of 2024 that this stock had been worked through in a meaningful way.

From a PV module supply perspective, Europe is still a 100-GW-level opportunity. As a result, the market in Europe sees strong representation from known, established PV module suppliers, but also from a host of relatively new entrants to the sector in the past couple of years; especially, new Chinese companies that have set up cell/module fabs in China recently with more than 10 GW capacity each.

Understanding PV module supply for European project deployment has never been more challenging. Not simply in knowing who all these new players are, but also gaining full visibility on the technologies, supply-chains, traceability and ESG metrics for the entire supply universe. Module buyers in Europe now have many of the purchasing questions to address that counterparts in the U.S. have been forced to factor into supplier due-diligence over the past few years.