There are 80 GW/h of uninstalled solar panels lying around in European warehouses
According to new data from Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy , the combined capacity of all unsold modules stored in European warehouses increased from around 40 GW/h in mid-July to around 80 GW/h at the end of August. This is almost 20 times the energy of the largest European power plant, Belchatow in Poland, which produces, on coal, 4.2 GW/h
“Europe imported around 78 GW in the first eight months of 2023, already exceeding by a good margin what will be installed this year,” said Marius Mordal Bakke, senior supply chain analyst at Rystad Energy. “ Although import data is currently unavailable as of last August this year, the module surplus in August would have increased to around 80 GW. Unless we see a notable slowdown in shipments in Europe, this number could exceed 100 GW by the end of this year.”
A huge, gigantic economic waste, as well as an environmental disaster, because these panels were produced with an enormous amount of electricity and with large quantities of rare earths, the extraction of which was highly polluting. An ecological disaster with ecological purposes.
He explained that the share of industrial-scale and rooftop installations in Europe is expected to be around 45%-55% of the total in 2023. “With already high inventory levels in warehouses, mainly intended for residential and commercial properties, most of the new imports would likely concern large-scale utility projects,” he added. “With an average import volume of around 10 GW per month from March to August this year, a good portion of these modules will inevitably end up in European warehouses.”
Popular prices, vertical losses
Since the prices of these products are falling without rebounds, the photovoltaic modules purchased and stored in warehouses are losing value every day. “PERC modules purchased and stocked by a European distributor for $0.23/W in March are now facing an average spot price of $0.16/W, which could very likely be $0.15/W on next month, meaning you would be incentivized to accept lower offers and liquidate the shares before they lose too much value ,” Mordal Bakke pointed out.
The enormous increase in GW in warehouses is essentially due to the large orders for domestic and industrial uses that were not realized, both due to the economic crisis and due to the expected reduction in the prices of these products. If prices are expected to fall, families and companies do not buy, but this on the one hand fills the warehouses and on the other further reduces prices.
Rystad Energy estimated the total value of the 40 GW of modules stored as of mid-July to be around 7 billion euros ($7.3 billion), according to a report published at the time. “At current price levels, however, these would now be worth around 6 billion euros,” Mordal Bakke said.
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The article 80 GW/h of uninstalled solar panels are lying in European warehouses comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/nei-magazzini-europei-giacciono-80-gw-h-di-pannelli-solari-non-installati/ on Fri, 06 Oct 2023 13:43:40 +0000.