PV Industry Considers Standards, Collaboration
A SEMI industry survey shows PV manufacturers at odds with government and each other, and considering an ITRS-like roadmap to guide them to much-needed standards and cooperation.
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor -- PV Society, 11/23/2009
The PV Group, SEMI's global photovoltaics initiative in support of the global PV manufacturing chain, recently completed a worldwide PV industry survey. Bettina Weiss, the group's senior director, presented the results in a webcast, Global PV Industry Collaboration Survey — Results and Next Steps. In this, the first survey of its kind, the global PV industry emerges as a kind of Wild West territory with different groups — manufacturers, suppliers and, worst of all, governments — seemingly at odds due to a lack of standards and overall direction.
SEMI's PV Group represents more than 370 companies, many with a history and expertise in semiconductor manufacturing. It also has 67 pure players — companies that have always been active in PV in some way or another.
The PV Group wants to leverage lessons learned from the semiconductor industry since materials and processes used in PV processing, process integration and automation are similar, if not identical, to those for semiconductors. However, the organization recognizes that the PV industry is not a cut-and-paste version of the semiconductor industry and has unique challenges, not the least of which is that the PV sector everywhere is very policy-driven.
"The idea of a PV roadmap started this year," Weiss said during the webcast. "The PV Group was engaged in discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy about collaboration, accelerating the learning curve and determining which areas require collective solutions to move things forward."
This culminated in a workshop with the Department of Energy (DoE) to explore the industry's need for either a U.S. or global technology roadmap. The 150 participants cast a strong vote for collaborative efforts — with the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) considered as a model — to identify critical gaps in PV technology and performance targets.
"It'll be a multidisciplinary effort, considering all the technologies that are in play — crystalline silicon, thin films, as well as specific issues around cell and module manufacturing," Weiss said. Since the DoE workshop demographics were slanted toward equipment manufacturers and materials suppliers, it was not possible to get a panorama of the whole PV value chain. "That prompted this survey — we wanted the bigger picture regarding collaboration and readiness to work together." The survey went out in September, and it received the feedback of 393 respondents.
Although equipment, materials and components suppliers were in the majority, there was a 13% response from PV module manufacturers, providing a broader picture of the industry. These were people involved in R&D, government agencies and distributors around the world (although the United States was primarily represented), with Europe making up 26%. Asia, including India, was also well-represented.
"We wanted to identify what the respondents considered as barriers to PV's successful development on a global scale," Weiss said. Predominantly, it was a lack of clarity and policy in government relations. "There's a global lack of visibility about funding opportunities. Governments are unsure about what needs to be done in the PV field." This can be confusing, particularly for a smaller company seeking government funding opportunities. It is difficult to navigate the bureaucracy. Respondents indicated that while the money was there to be disbursed, the response was slow.
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Top barriers to PV development on a global scale. (Source: SEMI) |
Many governments lack a cohesive policy to establish a structure for PV support, although this situation is improving with renewables as a whole. "It's being addressed not just as a PV effort, but as wind, geothermal and others," Weiss noted. The PV Group has produced white papers in China and India focusing on the challenges that the industry sees there, directly addressing governments with recommendations. There is a need to understand and analyze the impact in different countries of upcoming legislation that may affect the PV industry and positively influence its development.
The survey revealed a general concern over the lack of PV standards. These are needed everywhere: automation, integration and software, all the way to performance testing, insulation and financing. A semiconductor industry parallel would be the 200-300 mm wafer transition, a prime ground for standardization, because so much changed: equipment footprint, processes and robotics.
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Statements most PV industry survey respondents agreed with. (Source: SEMI) |
Survey respondents across the globe considered the lack of transparency in policies as the major obstacle to the PV industry's development. About 28% of respondents considered government funding a key factor in accelerating the global deployment of PV. Unifying the fragmented manufacturing supply chain and developing a global technology roadmap for PV were considered just as important.
Asked whether collaboration would be beneficial, 20% responded affirmatively, while a combined 29% stated that a roadmap is needed to overcome supply chain fragmentation and to harmonize global needs. Thus, a strong correlation was detected between collaborative efforts, standards-setting and easing fragmentation across the supply chain.
While the data suggest a consensus on collaboration, currently there are objections to collaborating and standardizing. Some think it is too early for this, and believe that engaging in an open, public dialogue could be harmful. Collaboration opponents object that roadmaps cannot define industry growth in such a dynamic market environment. However, 73% of respondents agree that an international effort is needed and 20% said that some segments might benefit from collaboration. Encouragingly, 48% declared themselves willing to participate. Those who refused, but asked to be kept informed of developments may be unsure which way to go or are waiting to see if the results will be worth their participation.
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Respondents' willingness to participate in a global collaboration effort to develop framework, scope and objectives. (Source: SEMI) |
"Stakeholders at all segments of the PV supply chain support a global collaborative effort," Weiss said. "There are many issues to be solved, and we must prioritize. We must select perhaps a maximum of four issues to tackle and get going. We must figure out what the top-tier challenges are to tackle those first. SEMI can help in this effort."
