Recording of Tuesday, June 23, 2026 | The smarter E Europe Conferences 2026 | Language: English | Duration: 13:48 .

Global Solar Manufacturing Landscape and Market Dynamics

Active and announced solar manufacturing capacities across Europe, the U.S., and India show marked disparities. Europe has overshot local demand for some components while the U.S. and India face overcapacity challenges. India is grappling with the introduction of new tariffs, pushing it to explore alternative markets like Europe to manage internal capacity. The development status reveals that certain regions are focusing on infrastructure and economic growth, while Europe aims for a 40% energy security target but confronts polysilicon supply chain imbalances. Investment incentives in the U.S. through the Inflation Reduction Act encourage solar module production but create disparities in the market. Rising costs in India, nearly half a dollar per watt peak, call for improved domestic manufacturing strategies to meet the domestic content requirements, which stand at approximately 23 cents per watt peak. Additionally, Europe's solar industry struggles with a lack of market demand for locally manufactured products despite EU financial support, highlighting the intricate global trade dynamics and the need for increased local production and strategic market adjustments.

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Speaker

Marius Mordal Bakke
VP, Head of solar and storage research
Rystad Energy AS
Norway

Talk of session: Solar Made in the EU: Strategies for Creating a Resilient Domestic Solar Market Based on High Internal Value Creation

Despite strong research capabilities and the presence of leading production equipment suppliers, Europe has been struggling to rebuild competitive wafer-to-module manufacturing, while the USA and India have enabled a local renaissance in solar manufacturing. In Europe, even long-established inverter manufacturers have been losing considerable ground. With the EU's Net Zero Industry Act yet to deliver momentum, attention is turning to the upcoming Industry Accelerator Act. This session examines how policy, investment and value-chain strategies can strengthen domestic manufacturing and increase internal value creation.

Key topics:

• Overview of EU and national policy frameworks to support local manufacturing
• Status of Europe's solar manufacturing value chain
• Investment gaps and competitiveness challenges
• Strategies for triggering a sustainable solar manufacturing revival

Further Talks of this session:

Intro

Speaker

Dries Acke
Deputy CEO
SolarPower Europe
Belgium

To Talk

European PV manufacturing: Current landscape and strategic outlook

Speaker

Karl Melkonyan
Principal Analyst
S&P Global

To Talk

How to Create a Full Solar Manufacturing Value Chain in Europe

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Peter Fath
CEO
RCT Solutions GmbH
Germany

To Talk

Panel Discussion

Speaker

To Talk