A lot of technologies have taken a good run at monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon based panels and foundered on the rocks as prices kept falling. The thin-film printed panels are like the horse that never quite finishes in the money in the triple crown. They'll always get some backers anyway. They offer potentially much cheaper manufacturing processes at the cost of lower efficiency and never quite manage to get the right balance.Global PV module prices collapse
The predicted fall in global PV module prices appears to have already begun, with PVInsights and EnergyTrend reporting average prices in the $0.27-$0.37/W range. Well, that didn’t take long.
Only days after the Chinese government announced a substantial withdrawal of support for solar PV on May 31, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) responded with a report forecasting that global PV module prices would fall 34% this year, estimating that monocrystalline silicon modules would cost only $0.24 per watt by the end of the year.
The note also predicted “market panic” in the short term. Only a few weeks later both dynamics to appear to be at play, according to data by PVInsights and EnergyTrend.
As of Wednesday, PVInsights estimated average PV module prices had fallen to $0.278 per watt for standard multicrystalline modules, with multi-PERC modules coming in at an average of $0.337 per watt, and mono-PERC modules at $0.363 per watt.
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PERC is a cell architecture which can be used for either poly or mono crystalline cells. Instead of only having electrical contacts on the front it has them on the front and the back to improve electron capture.