Solar Pv Grid Parity by Operational Excellence

Cost Reduction Opportunities for the PV Industry by Operational Excellence

(in the march towards grid parity)

Emilio Mera

Global Development Director, BP Solar

Álvaro Granada, CSU Mgr, BP Oil España Ramón Antelo, CEO, Galgano España

Block 03: Natural Gas & Renewables

Forum 14: State of the Art on Renewables (Wind and Solar) Sources of Energy

Grid Parity: The Gap and the Business as Usual Levers

• R&D driven levers: • Efficiency improvement

• Silicon refining optimization

Some 45%-ish gap to be closed

• Thickness reduction and next generation automation

•Capital investment driven levers: •Fabs size •Vertical integration

EPIA: “Solar Generation IV- 2007. Solar electricity for over one billion people and two million jobs by 2020”

Three-Five Years Forecasted Impact of Business as Usual Levers

MODULE MANUFACTURING VALUE CHAIN (75%+ of kWh cost)

Current focus for cost reductions in PV Module

120% 100%

100% 3,8% 10% 5% 11% 10% 61%

80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Current module cost Silicon cost reduction= Efficiency Thickness

Vertical integration

EoS biz as usual

Reduced module cost

While current workstreams will dramatically reduce the module manufacturing cost, they might not be able to close the whole gap in the next few years.

The Operational Excellence Opportunity

•

While business as usual workstream are fundamentally needed and will deliver, their nature (R&D and capital availability for the majority of market players) makes it timeliness not fully deterministic.

•

Accelerating and increasing the manageability of the march towards grid parity is possible by grabbing The Operational Excellence Opportunity for the PV module manufacturing supply chain

•

The opportunity pivots around importing the paradigm shifts that have transformed industries such as the Microelectronics and the Automotive

•

Key Operational excellence sources of value for PV manufacturing:

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Overall Equipment...