Page 160 - CW E-Magazine (26-12-2023)

News from Abroad

IMPROVED COMPETITIVENESS
China’s solar production costs fall by 42% in last year

The cost of producing solar modules
in China has dropped by 42% in the
last 12 months to $0.15 per watt (W)
giving manufacturers in the country an
enormous cost advantage over interna-
tional rivals, according to a new report
from Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy.

Alongside the fall in Chinese solar
hardware costs, the report looks at the
meteoric rise of renewable energy; the
efforts being made to diversify battery
raw materials supply; the progress of
carbon capture and storage; and the
growth of domestic heat pumps. Fig. 1: Solar module prices by manufacturing location
dependence on China. While in some house, China commands 80% of global
The report states that policy is cases, such as Chinese solar module manufacturing capacity and this is
widening to support the build-out of production, costs are coming down, in being reflected in soaring domestic
domestic supply chains for low-carbon others they will remain high. installations. This year its domestic
technologies and to develop new sour- solar additions will be double those of
ces of critical minerals to reduce global As the world’s solar module power- the US and the EU combined.

LOW CARBON OPERATIONS
Net-zero chemicals industry initiative relaunches

as the Global Impact Coalition

To drive the global chemical indus- emerge as an independent legal
try on a path to net-zero emissions by entity. We are dedicated to nur-
2050, the Low-Carbon Emitting Tech- turing our strong relationship,
nologies (LCET) initiative, incubated bolstering sustainability and
and hosted by the World Economic innovation within the chemi-
Forum (WEF) for more than three cals sector,” said Mr. Børge
years, has now officially launched as the Brende, President, WEF.
independent ‘Global Impact Coalition’.
The coalition is a collabora-
The CEO-led coalition, founded tion of incubation of low car-
by BASF, SABIC, Covestro, Clariant, bon emittance technologies in
LyondellBasell, the Mitsubishi Chemi- the chemical industry, suppor-
cal Group, and Solvay will focus on ted by an expert community of
accelerating the development and more than 70 senior chemical
upscaling of low-carbon emitting industry executives. Its transi-
technologies for chemical production bation within the World Economic tion from a WEF initiative into the new,
and related value chains. Forum and led by tangible results in the independent coalition marks an impor-
decarbonisation space, we are delighted tant milestone and has been made pos-
“After over three years of incu- to witness the Global Impact Coalition sible by its founders.

160 Chemical Weekly December 26, 2023

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