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With the increase in photovoltaic module production capacity, glass suppliers have been investing in new solar glass production capacity. As in India and China, new facilities are emerging in North America with unique features to ensure competitiveness, such as the use of recycled material.
In mid-March 2024, Canadas Silfab Solar, a manufacturer of high-efficiency modules with expansion plans in South Carolina, announced that it would source glass from American photovoltaic panel recycler Solarcycle. Solarcycle plans a $344 million solar glass factory in the US state of Georgia, which will be supplied with recycled panel materials.
“We are excited about the growth potential of domestic solar manufacturing to create jobs and develop R&D in the United States,” Solarcycle COO Rob Vinje told pv magazine .
Global growth
Andries Wantenaar of market research firm Rethink Technology Research says: “Demand for solar glass appears strong. “It is a growing market with relatively stable prices.” He pointed to a 66% increase in every part of Chinas solar manufacturing industry in 2023, and even faster growth outside China, where production doubled from 65 GW in 2022 to around 130 GW in 2023.
“If you make solar glass, you have a very large and fast-growing market outside of China to sell to,” Wantenaar said. “You will not be trapped in the situation of Western polysilicon manufacturers, whose customers are Chinese wafer manufacturers, who now buy exclusively from Chinese polysilicon manufacturers at prices well below the Western marginal cost of production.”
Prices of glass materials are relatively stable. “The price of solar-grade glass has been stubborn for at least a decade because it is a totally figurative product,” Wantenaar said. The caveat is that glass is an energy-intensive product, which is a strong cost factor, and one of the reasons why China dominates its production. Wantenaar estimates that China holds “about 90%” of the solar glass market, on top of its 80% share in photovoltaic modules.
Two-Sided
Wantenaar believes glass will account for a larger portion of the cost of modules in the future, as other elements become more cost-effective and the trend for bifacial modules, which typically have glass on both sides rather than one, intensifies. Glass front combined with a polymer back sheet.
“Bifacial modules have recently exceeded 50% market share in China and will continue to grow to reach 75% in 2030,” says the analyst.
Bifacial glass modules typically use two panels of 2mm glass, sometimes 1.6mm, unlike conventional panels, which feature 3.2mm glass. Using thinner glass may require different thermosetting processes, which may impact quality.
Researchers at the US Department of Energys (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are studying the trend toward using thinner glass in relation to module durability.
“Really thin glass is optimized for transportation and logistics, but not necessarily for durability in the field,” explains Teresa Barnes, who leads NRELs Photovoltaic Systems Performance and Reliability Group and leads the Durable Module research consortium. Materials (Duramat), funded by the DOE.
“Historically, silicon PV modules have been made with laminated and textured cover glass, while thin film has used non-antimony float glass with a thickness of 2 mm or 3 mm,” explains Barnes. “It is possible to make it thinner, but it is more complicated because of the thermal annealing process.”
Glassware manufactured for the North American market may have different mechanical requirements than those in other regions.
“Extreme weather conditions, such as hail, could cause US modules to require thicker tempered glass,” explains Barnes.
Similar signals also come from Europe.
“The trend here is to find niches,” says Martin Zugg, CEO of German glass manufacturer Interfloat, owned by Indias Borosil. “Its hard to find a niche, but we see manufacturers increasingly developing new niche markets, including hail-resistant panels that require thicker glass, roof-integrated modules, and building-integrated photovoltaic applications.”
Interfloat produces enough low-iron, high-transmission textured solar glass for 2 GW of modules per year. It manufactures glass with thicknesses between 2 and 6 mm, in conventional, customized and special dimensions.
Using thicker glass could give local manufacturers a market opportunity and reduce transportation-related costs.
“Glass is an expensive material to transport,” explains NRELs Barnes. “Logistics, transportation and storage costs are borne by the photovoltaic module manufacturer.”
First Solar Effect
US thin-film PV giant First Solar is expanding its capacity with 13 GW of operational production starting in September 2023, and plans to reach 25 GW of global annual nominal capacity in 2026, with 14 GW in the United States. Joined.
That expansion trajectory is driving investment by the glass industry to supply it with the float glass it needs for its thin-film modules. In the United States, manufacturers NSG Group and Vitro Architectural Glass have announced contracts and plans for exclusive lines to serve First Solar.
In India, where First Solar recently inaugurated its 3.3 GW Series 7 module plant, French materials company Saint Gobain has reportedly launched production at a plant in the state of Tamil Nadu to supply the American manufacturer.
In November 2023, NSG said it would add transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coated glass capacity in Ohio to supply First Solar, planning to move in early 2025. NSG has been producing TCO coated glass for solar photovoltaics for more than 25 years. Thin layer.
“Every year, the solar market gets bigger and bigger; more capital, more resources,” said Stephen Weidner, who heads NSGs North American architectural glass and solar products groups. “We see it on a global scale.”
Glass for solar energy is becoming more and more important. “It has gone from virtually nothing 10 years ago to representing 10% to 15% of the total flat glass market supply in North America,” Weidner said. “Our goal is to grow with the market. That means that by the end of [2024] we will have three waterlines in North America dedicated to the solar segment, another two lines in Vietnam, also one in Malaysia, which we converted earlier to TCO from architectural glass.”
Vitro Architecural Glass is also adding capacity in the US to supply First Solar. In October 2023, it announced an extension of its contract with First Solar and a plan to invest in a plant in Pennsylvania, as well as retrofitting existing photovoltaic glass installations. The company said in a statement that it expected “significant growth” in the solar glass business due to the nearshoring effect in the United States.
Impact of the IRA
In addition to influencing First Solar and its growing glass supply chain, policies such as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are also spurring investment in crystalline silicon manufacturing, leading to Canadian Premium Sand (CPS), a new operator in Canada, to announce a glass project for solar panels. CPS plans to build a factory in Selkirk, Manitoba to produce glass covers for 1.8mm to 4mm modules in enough volume for 6GW of solar panels per year.
According to Anshul Vishal, head of corporate development at CPS, “we estimate that the demand for solar pattern glass in the North American region will reach almost 100 GW in 2030, driven by the offshoring of the solar panel manufacturing supply chain in the United States. Joined".
The company announced purchase agreements with module manufacturers such as the Swiss Meyer Burger, the Canadian Heliene and Qcells, owned by the South Korean Hanwha. According to Vishal, discussions have already started with other potential customers for patterned solar glass, and it is expected to reach 100% contracts before construction.
The CPS integrated glass project requires an investment of CAD 880 million ($639 million) to set up the plant and develop a silica sand site. The plan includes multiple lines of tempered and patterned solar glass, including anti-reflective and anti-fouling coating lines, which will be online in 2026.
“This is a project supported by both provincial and federal government agencies, and we already have environmental permits,” says Vishal. “We have just subjected the sandy material to testing in Europe, which confirmed that we will be able to use simple, low-cost and environmentally friendly processes to refine it to quality specifications of patterned solar glass.”
CPS will be able to leverage Manitobas energy mix for low-CO2 hydroelectric and wind power. According to Vishal, the location in the North American Free Trade Agreement zone, three to four days by land from customers, facilitates transportation and reduces potential disruptions.
A consortium has been contracted to build the CPS plant. Participating in it are Henry F. Teichmann, an international glass plant contractor based in the United States; French-based industrial engineering company Fives Group; Italian glass manufacturing equipment supplier Bottero; and two Canadian companies: Elrus Aggregate Systems, a supplier of mineral processing equipment; and PCL Constructors, a civil engineering company.
Recycled glass
Like CPS, the planned two-year-old Solarcycle plant has an annual capacity with the module equivalent of between 5 GW and 6 GW of generating capacity, but using recycled glass. Using recycled materials recovered from end-of-life crystalline silicon panels means that the recovered glass has the right chemical composition. In the opinion of Vinje, from Solarcycle, it is a material with low iron content, which will reduce energy demand and carbon emissions.
“It is the first low-iron laminated glass plant to be built in the US market,” says the director of operations. “We are currently receiving offers from international suppliers of glass processing equipment, while engineering, construction and multiple subsystem contracts are being negotiated with US-based suppliers.”
An 800-meter-long printed glass production line with hot and cold processing segments is being built. It includes the construction of a specially designed regenerative cross-combustion furnace that reuses exhaust gases to reduce fuel consumption; hot rolling processing equipment; and the glass cutting, grinding, tempering and other final cold process steps necessary to manufacture glass for double-glazed and single-glazed modules.
Solarcycle is not the only glass supplier that wants to benefit from the use of recycled material. Canadas CPS has also stated that it plans to use recycled glass from external sources in its products, while companies such as Japans AGC and Saint Gobain have also announced projects. |
